The Sisters Brothers
starring John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed
screenplay by Jacques Audiard and Thomas Bidegain
directed by Jacques Audiard
Rating: ♦♦♦♦◊
Called “Golden River” in Japan, The Sisters Brothers is based on the novel of the same name by Canadian Patrick deWitt (Ablutions, 2011). It features two sibling gunmen in 1851 California whose family name happens to be “Sisters.” So, they really are the Sisters brothers. The brothers, Eli and Charlie, are hit-men, hired guns, assassins working for “The Commodore,” a wealthy businessman in Oregon City, California. The brothers are on a mission to kill Hermann Warm, an ingenious prospector who has been accused of stealing from the Commodore. Eli and Charlie experience a series of misadventures while tracking him, misadventures fueled in part by Eli’s alcohol abuse, frequent inebriation, big mouth and erratic volatility. Eli, by contrast, is a more mature, calm and cautious man. Nevertheless, they happen to be very good killers - I mean successful, good at their work - and even though they might look and act like of couple of doofuses, they are very dangerous men.
The California gold rush is in full swing, and Warm has some vague process to more easily remove gold from river water, hence the Japanese title “Golden River,” which I think is a pretty good title, considering. Eventually, Eli and Charlie track down Warm, who was also being followed by private detective John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal). But by the time they find him, both Warm and Morris have decided to team together in pursuit of gold. Eli and Charlie are beginning to question their boss, and their own role working for him. So, once they find Warm and Morris they, too, join them in search of easy gold, and to discover what this mysterious process is.
On a piece of staked land, the group dams a stream to test Warm’s process, which is a liquid solution. When they pour the solution into the water it causes the gold to glow, making it easier to retrieve. However, the solution is caustic, like acid, and over-exposure leads to the deaths of Warm and Morris, and the amputation of Charlie’s right arm - his shooting arm.
Because everyone - John Morris plus the Sisters brothers - has failed to capture Warm and return him to the Commodore, the Commodore sends out more killers to liquidate them all. However, Eli and Charlie are still such good killers, they successfully eliminate this new crew and then return to Oregon City to gain their freedom from the Commodore by killing him. They find him already dead by natural causes, however, and instead return to live with their mother. I suspect that in retirement they will either become farmers, or else open up a shop in town, as was hinted in the script.
I liked the film. There’s a kind of humor in it, and I liked the Sisters brothers’ quirkiness. I also like John C. Reilly. He’s a great character actor. He looks like an average Joe, not a movie star, which only leads people to underestimate him.