The bounty-hunting brothers named Sisters are tasked by the mysterious Commander to finish off a certain Worm, a gold-digging adventurer. Lucky in life bounty hunters chase a new victim, unaware that their scout is not so simple. A game of survival begins–sharp wit versus reckless strength.
4k movies reviews
The Western genre has a very fascinating history. And it is no less interesting in and of itself. It originated, of course, in America, could only exist in American reality and for a very long time was the central genre for U.S. cinema. The internationalization of Hollywood pushed cowboys and Indians to the periphery, but (however surprising) the ingenious Italian Sergio Leone not only brought the western back to America and to the whole world, but also set unwritten rules (like marksmanship with a gun held at waist level). They gave the genre a lot of twists and turns, adding to it an uncharacteristic psychologism. The heroes became not so good, their opponents gained their own philosophy. And then, as if all of this at once, the French director Jacques Odiard, who by his nationality should be far from this subject, decided to retell it to us again. Well, if an Italian can do it, why can’t a Frenchman?
In fact, The Brothers Sisters is only a picture of a Western. Men on horseback, saloons, gunfire and other trappings of American reality at the time. The story is about people, their choices, the perniciousness of greed and family ties. The retelling is quite serious and psychological. It pulls at least for an elaborate drama, but the conventions of the world on display do not allow this drama to unfold. It lacks adventure, action and suspense for an action-adventure film (the closest thing to a typical western). And so the movie is swinging between all the genres, eventually leaning somewhere toward the comedy with elements of drama.
The excellent cast (and there, by the way, are Jake Gyllenhaal and Joaquin Phoenix) gives the movie exactly nothing. They could have been any other less prominent actor and we wouldn’t have lost anything. Great accent here from Gyllenhaal, though. I’m not sure anyone could do that. But the picture isn’t about the accent, is it?
I have to admit, the movie is easy to watch (even though it’s two hours long) and even a little captivating. But the final credits make you wonder what it’s about and why – and there are no answers. It’s about everything at once and nothing at all. Perhaps such specific genres should exist according to their strict canons and conventions, otherwise the genre is spoiled and nothing new and worthy is achieved.
Info Blu-ray
Video
Codec: HEVC / H.265 (84.2 Mb/s)
Resolution: Upscaled 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (192kbps)
Subtitles
English, English SDH.
