The Sisters Brothers

The Western is slowly sneaking it's way back into favour it seems. Last year we had the highly regarded Hostiles, Sweet Country and Lean On Pete in the cinema and The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs & Godless on Netflix. We also got one of the best games of all time in the shape of Red Dead Redemption 2 that gave a whole new generation of people a love for the genre that started cinema. Add to that the raft of releases in the past couple of years that never made it to the cinema but still managed to be very watchable, films like Brimstone, The Duel, Diablo, The Ballad Of Lefty Brown and more. Things are looking very healthy and this week's new film The Sisters Brothers makes things look even better. It's a joy of a watch.

Eli (John C.Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix) Sisters are a pair of assassin brothers who are very good at their work. Their latest job is to track down a man called Hermann Warm (Riz Ahmed) who has, it's claimed, stolen something from their boss, The Commodore. Another man is on Warm's trail too, a private detective called John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal). Eventually all their paths cross but things do not go the way you'd expect them too.

I need this hanging on my wall

I loved this. Loved it. It's not a perfect film but it's a highly enjoyable one. It's beautiful looking. It takes genuinely unpredictable story turns. It's quirky without going full Wes Andersen. It's funny but it's not a comedy. It's violent but it's never gratuitous. It hits every beat you'd expect a western to hit but it does it in such a lovely way that it will charm the boots off you. For a film that starts off with a group of men being murdered as a horse on fire runs by it's got a surprising warmth to it all and that's down to a pair of great performances from John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix as the titular brothers. Riz Ahmed as a gentle character very out of place in the rough and tumble of 19th century Oregon plays a lovely part too but the main duo fuel the film. 

They get the brother act off to a tee. Theirs feels like a genuine sibling relationship. Both are violent men (this isn't a film with heroes, these fellows are unapologetic murderers) but they're like oil and water around each other. They play tricks on each other, slag each other off and have no problem with the odd punch but when push comes to shove they genuinely rely on each other.  Charlie the more streetwise and experienced of the pair when it comes to work and Eli, the heart of the duo, at once annoyed by and worried for his heavy drinking brother. They fit together perfectly and both are very believable when it comes to shedding blood.

There's an earthiness to the film which I liked. There's no bit of gloss. The violence is blunt and matter of fact. It hurts. It takes its toll. Bad things happen to good people. Nasty things happen to bad people. We get to see the outcome of a particularly terrifying old wive's tale in a very unexpected instance of horror. Then, in between the crudity and bloodshed there's a sprinkle of heart that leavens it all. A smile across a dinner table, a stolen moment of affection, grief for a longtime companion, hope for a better future. Little moments that make you feel something for character's you'd otherwise look on as scumbags.

Director Jacques Audiard has made a handful of stunners over the years. A Prophet, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Dheepan and he continues his run with this one. It takes a while to get used to it's rhythm's and the usually reliable Gyllenhaal doesn't add much but I just fell for it in a big way. Go see it now if you can, it won't be around for long.