The Sisters Brothers

Based on a book by Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers follows title characters Eli (John C. Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) as they’re contracted to find and kill a man named Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed) in the Old West – with the narrative also detailing the exploits of a detective (Jake Gyllenhaal’s John Morris) hot on Hermann’s trail. Director Jacques Audiard, working from a script written with Thomas Bidegain, has infused The Sisters Brothers with a meandering, deliberately-paced feel that perpetually prevents the viewer from connecting to the material, as the movie’s episodic structure ensures that it boasts (or suffers from) an excessively hit-and-miss atmosphere – with problems ensuing as the picture eventually becomes more miss than hit (and it’s clear, too, that the seriously overlong running time only exacerbates its various problems). There’s little doubt, however, that the movie does boast its fair share of appealing elements, with the impressive and sporadically captivating work by stars Reilly and Phoenix certainly going a long way towards keeping things interesting. (It’s clear, too, that Gyllenhaal delivers as sturdy and compelling a performance as one might’ve anticipated.) The ongoing inclusion of amusing vignettes (eg Eli learns how to use a toothbrush, Charlie drunkenly chases customers out of a saloon, etc) effectively paints a fairly vivid picture of life during that time period, and yet it’s impossible not to wish the whole thing added up to something a bit more compelling (ie there’s exceedingly little here in the way of actual forward momentum). And although the film is likewise stacked with memorable scenes (eg Charlie and Eli discuss their future together), The Sisters Brothers ultimately never quite manages to become more than the sum of its parts – with this vibe certainly cemented by a fairly underwhelming (and nigh endless) climax.

** out of ****

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