The Mala Noche Recommends: “The Sisters Brothers,” an Unconventional Western That Is As Sentimental As It Is Gruesome

Written by: Miguel Torrellas

“The Sisters Brothers” is a western that you’ll want to hug. Director Jacques Audiard first English-language film succeeds at one the hardest balancing-acts in movies, it manages to be sentimental without being overly sweet. Adapted from a novel of the same name by Canadian author Patrick deWitt, the story takes place in the California Gold Rush. The titular brothers Charlie and Eli Sisters are hired by the mysterious figure of “the Commodore” to retrieve, by any means necessary, something a man named Hermann Warm supposedly stole from him. But what begins as a conventional frontier tale quickly transforms into something more meaningful and unusual.

Audiard script, which he co-wrote with frequent collaborator Thomas Bidegain, manages to explore the relationships between brothers and the shifting dynamics that come with partnerships of any form. In a setting traditionally used to depict the harshness of the world, “The Sisters Brothers” decides to examine ideas of camaraderie and the pleasures that can arise from mutual trust and cooperation. These themes particularly shine when they are contrasted with a moral parable about the greed of men that enters during the second half of the movie and carries an almost fairytale-like quality.

Such description might make the film sound a bit too saccharine for most viewers but bear in mind that together in the mix are some of the most gruesome and fatalistic images found in a western since the exceptional “Bone Tomahawk” was released back in 2015. It is this willingness by Audiard to not shy away from the violence and desperation of the American West what makes the more pacific moments in the film that much more joyful.

The production comes with a stellar cast that includes Riz Ahmed and Jake Gyllenhaal as supportive players accompanying John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix as the eponymous hitmen siblings. While Phoenix brings a fantastic energy to the psychopathic nature of the younger brother, it is the work of Reilly what ties together the film, with a grounded performance that’s equal parts repentance and hopefulness. In his hands, small actions like discovering how to use the revolutionary new invention of the toothbrush or caring for a sick horse can feel wistful and sympathetic.

Some oddball moments in the narrative may bring to mind the work of American masters Joel and Ethan Coen, especially since the release of their hilarious western “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” came so close to this one, but Audiard’s blends his own unique lyricism and subtleness into a distinctive vision of gunslingers manifesting their destiny.

So saddle up confidently into this disarmingly sweet story and enjoy the pleasure of seeing one of the oldest movie genres being illuminated with tender new light.