Its was eagerly expected, we were really impressed: when Jacques Audiard takes on the American Western genre with in the leading role Joachin Phoenix and Jake Gyllenhaal, the restul is totally wild. In The Sisters brothers, the French film director showcases two brothers with totally opposite characters, Charlie and Elie Sisters, in charge of finding and capturing a man withholding a major secret... Why the film is a masterpiece:
A brand new Jacques Audiard
The French film director is mostly known for his superb dramas with Tahar Rahim in A Prophet, Romain Duris in The Beat that my Heart Skipped or Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone. But Jacques Audiard has more than one trick up his sleeve: with this first film in English, incarnated by Hollywood stars, he takes on the very challenging genre of the Western and is successful hands up. Inspired by the novel of Patrick De Witt that takes place during the Gold Rush, great open spaces from Oregon to California are superbly filmed, the characters impeccably imagined and the story is very well handled!
A breathtaking man-hunt
Under the orders of Commodore, Charlie and Elie Sisters are two brothers in charge of capturing or killing men. If Charlie (Joachin Phoenix), the youngest, was born to have blood on his hands, his older brother Elie, dreams of a quiet family life with the one he loves. This time, their mission is to capture Warm, a chemist who detains a revolutionary formula to find gold, already spotted by the dandy Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal). Between treasons, changes of situation, and character complexity, Jacques Audiard signs a mesmerizing wild ride. With tongues that start wagging after a while, the hunt of the two brothers, constantly side by side, also takes on allures of an initiatic journey...
A haute couture Western
By respecting the codes of the Western while taking a few side steps, Jacques Audiard certainly had fun directing this film. Far from caricatures, the characters are very well constructed and endearing, the sibling brother’s ties are explored from A to Z, humour is often part of the picture, just like violence, totally and deliciously part of the genre. An intelligent, captivating Western, subtly incarnated and a little like a philosophical tale. So what are you waiting for? Rush out and buy your tickets.
