Glasgow Film Festival: The Sisters Brothers

The credits ran on the packed showing of The Sisters Brothers at Glasgow Film Festival and I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of disappointment. I’d had high hopes for the film following the exploits of two outlaw brothers in the old west but, it left me cold.

Don’t get me wrong, the film is great in moments. The highlights mainly being the relationship and comedy between the two brothers played by John C Rielly (Wreck-It Ralph and the break-out winter hit, Holmes and Watson) and Joaquin Phoenix (You Were Never Really Here) that is both dramatic and comedic. They make the best of what feels like a bad situation for the actors, both providing tremendous performances in what is a somewhat lacking film.

This is coming from one of Joaquin’s biggest fanboys, he again demonstrates why he is one of the best actors of our generation bringing something only he could to the character, his beard and ability to act drunk as all hell. Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed are both hands in good performances in the film too but aren’t provided as many moments to shine as the brothers, which is completely fine as their name isn’t in the title.

The film as a whole though just failed to engage me in what was going on, it is paced with the multiple times I didn’t know why I should care about anything happening in this film. It lacks any real development, the film feels like it goes nowhere with any of its characters. That is some times okay but in a film that feels about three hours long the lack of movement begins to annoy you.

It then meanders slowly towards its ending which lacks any kind of pay off for any of the characters, and that’s just the ones that make it out the film alive, multiple others are hyped up or play a large role only to face to an unceremonial end before it feels like their time is up.

I am being serious when I say that I was underwhelmed by The Sisters Brothers, despite a strong double act in the leads the film failed to grab me from the get-go and failed to do anything for me which lead to 120 minutes of bitter disappointment from a film I’d been excited for since I saw the trailer. Ah well, I’m sure Phoenix will redeem himself in The Joker movie in August