First published on the public account of "Watching Movies and Seeing Death"
"The Sisters Brothers" is the first English film by French director Jacques Odía. It opened on the fifth day of the Venice Film Festival and received wide acclaim. Metacritic scored 80, and Indiewire gave B+. However, in the Venice show, "Sisters Brothers" scored 3.89, second only to "Rome", and the Italian audience scored a super high score of 4.2. "The Sisters Brothers" was evaluated as a very warm western film, which gave the audience a very different viewing experience. No wonder the media room applauded after the premiere in Venice, which even "Rome" did not get treatment.
Jacques Oudiya has always had a keen sociological insight, and is fascinated by the depiction of the fate and character of the characters in the social context, especially the marginal characters. In 2009's work "The Prophet", Odiya talked about the choices and transformations of teenagers in prison; 12 years of "Rust and Bone" talked about the learning and growth of the disabled and boxers in love; In "The Wandering Dipan", which won the Palme d'Or in 15 years, Odia paid attention to the difficult immigration path of Sri Lankan war refugees. It's hard to imagine this year's Odiya actually shifted his attention and made a very commercial English western film, which can be said to be a transformational move.
"The Sisters Brothers" is based on Patrick Werther's 2011 novel of the same name. It is about a pair of murderous brothers who were ordered to intercept the gold rush of a chemist named Worm in the background of the American gold rush in 1851. The secret recipe was completely taken out of the story of the Western World. Since the direction of the story is completely inconsistent with the temperament of Western films, the characters' warm choices shine with humanistic care, highlighting an anti-genre style, which can be said to be a very successful anti-genre attempt.
The film's photography is very magnificent, Oudiya even used aerial shots to capture the mountains and rivers and coasts in the west to the extreme. The performances of the four male actors are commendable, especially Jacques Phoenix. The absurdity and sensitivity of the characters are well performed. In addition to photography and performance, since the film is based on a novel and the original author is also the screenwriter of the film, the script of this film is particularly wonderful and there are many places to interpret it. To put it simply, there are several points:
Dissolution of Western Feelings
"The Sisters Brothers" is not a typical Western film, although there are many gunfights in the movie: the opening scene of the gunfight shows the brutality of the Sisters brothers, and the habitual violence characteristics of the characters in the Western films Uncover. In the middle section of the Mayfield Hotel, the Sisters brothers not only decisively killed the killer, but also executed Mayfield and robbed her of her wealth. Fundamentally speaking, they were talking about the brothers' cruelty. These shootout scenes were very simply and beautifully filmed, with the characteristics of traditional westerns, as if they were reminiscent of the dead-end gunners in the western film "Sunset and Sand".
However, even so, "Brothers Hissters" does not have the cold blood and blackness of the Coen brothers at all, and also adds a lot of comedy factors. The younger brother Charlie played by Jacques Phoenix is not only often drunk, but can also vomit at any time, fall off his horse, and even pretend to cry to make pranks for his brother. It is a completely comedic role. The older brother Eli, played by John C. Reilly, not only drinks strange Eastern European soup, but also plays role-playing at the Mayfield Hotel, which is absurd but cute. At the end of the movie, punching the corpse was just for "confirmation", which made the audience burst into laughter.
"Brothers Sisters" is not only not a traditional western film in form, but also runs counter to the essence of western film in content. The movie not only puts down the heroism and masculinity early, but also makes Morris, played by Jack Gyllenhaal, turn to warmth the first time he chooses, which affects the direction of the story like a butterfly effect. In the end, the friendship between men is not. Then there is the exchange of guns and guns, but it has become a division of labor and cooperation, and sympathy. Men no longer draw their guns and fight when they disagree, but open their hearts to speak freely and use communication to resolve conflicts. In the context of the times, people's consciousness is gradually affected by new things, and they gradually step out of barbarism and killing, and have more rational thinking. This is the era that "Sisters Brothers" wants to look back on, the era in which the western world is gradually declining and new civilizations are gradually taking over.
Urban and social system renewal
After the Civil War, the United States eliminated the “tumor” of slavery in the development of capitalism, and its socio-economic development entered a “leap period”. The most important reason for this rapid development was the westward movement of the United States. Especially the discovery of the California gold mine in 1848, and the subsequent "gold rush" of 1849, thousands of immigrants flocked to the west, prompting the rapid expansion of economic activities to the west. It was during this process that the first climax of urbanization in the far west, the Pacific Rim, emerged, and a number of mining towns emerged.
The year of "The Sisters Brothers" was the hottest period of the gold rush in 1851. A large number of native Americans and foreign immigrants, including a large number of Chinese, poured into the west. In the film, the actor who plays Worm, Riz Ahmed, has a dark complexion and is of Pakistani descent; and Morris, played by Jack Gyllenhaal, speaks a strange English voice, and should be an immigrant from a European country. The influx of immigrants into the west means the disintegration of traditional culture, which is also the inevitable change of the old and the new in the westward movement of the United States.
The leap from slavery to emerging capitalism is bound to be led by a group of people with advanced ideas. In the movie, Worm first proposed the concept of "company" to Morris, then introduced equity, and discussed the issue of sharing after the Sisters brothers joined. He hoped that the "ideal country" founded in Dallas of Dexsa is not just a matter of paper. With his secret recipe for gold digging, perhaps civilization can really be established under his leadership. The surrender of the Sisters brothers is the best proof.
Human change
If "The Sisters Brothers" only talks about the changes in the old and new societies in the United States, then it only accomplishes what a documentary should do. The most wonderful thing about the movie is to combine the fate of the protagonist with the background of the times, and the individual will follow the times. The changes are unfolding naturally. With the development of the plot of the movie, the Sisters brothers went westward, out of the western hinterland, and the Gobi went to the coast. On the way, I not only encountered a store, learned how to brush my teeth, but also stepped out of barbarism and moved towards civilization. When the Sisters brothers finally came to San Francisco and fought in the hotel, Eli not only knew that being slapped in public was "humiliating", but even hoped to abandon his old profession and find another one. "Proper" career. As the chemist Worm said, "Humans will change, just fast or slow."
The most obvious change in the role of his brother Eli in the movie is the bridge where he and Morris brushed their teeth together after getting up early. This bridge segment not only points out Eli's desire to be civilized to do things for people, but also pave the way for him to be tired of the barbaric life and choose to disarm and return to the fields. The changes of his younger brother Charlie are even more obvious. From being a senseless, violent and willful murderer of his father, to joining the gold rush cooperation team at the end; from pretending to cry at night as a prank, to really crying all night after the missed murder, Charlie His character has been reversed on this gold rush. It can be said that the characters in the movie have really stood up, full and convincing.
It is very easy to criticize a movie, just like people who don’t like "Brothers Hissters" can simply say that they want to watch a real western movie, and want to watch a real cowboy. This kind of anti-genre movie is meaningless, that’s it. A few words can negate the movie. However, "Sisters Brothers" was obviously not filmed for these pseudo-western fans/real brain-dead. Don’t forget that the director is a Frenchman. What he wants to film is the disappearance of western feelings, the retreat of cowboys, and the times. The changes. Trying to find heroes and sunsets from such a movie is like finding a laugh in "Les Miserables", looking in the wrong direction.
Odia dared to focus the camera on the survival of the cowboys under the changing times, and let the gold rush wave ruthlessly wash them out. Perhaps there is not much to say, only a simple truth: in the end, we are all no match for the times, no match for the future. His revenge may be completely disrupted by unexpected funerals, and the wheels of the civilization process will surely drive backwardness and barbarism. So when the cowboys are tired of endless gun battles, they still yearn for the warmth of home.
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