OK, no one’s really seen it yet, but two “reviews” of Jim Sheridan’s “Brothers” are out there. One, from the L.A. Times, is not really a review per se and it comes from Oscar blogger Peter Hammond so proceed with caution because as we all remember, his taste is rather crap and he was named the Movie Quote Whore Of The Year in 2007 by EFilmCritics.
As discussed several times here, “Brothers” is a remake of the 2004 Danish film, “Broder,” directed by Susanne Bier. In the remake by Sheridan, Jake Gyllenhaal plays the black sheep of a snowy Pennsylvania-based family whose bad behavior has left him in jail for three years while Tobey Maguire plays the military man older brother done good with Natalie Portman as his wife and the mother of their two daughters. When Maguire’s character’s tour of duty in Afghanistan goes awry and he is presumed killed in action, Gyllenhaal’s character — who has just been released from prison — starts to encroach, seemingly to finally give back and support the family. Things are thrown into chaos, however, when Maguire unexpectedly returns.
Hammond posits, does Lionsgate have “a second contender looming in the wings?,” calls the film a “powerful” story and says Maguire could get some awards love, “due to his strong performance, Maguire’s name undoubtedly will start popping up on Best Actor lists.”
He says that after the screening, “Sheridan received a tremendous ovation Sunday afternoon when he was introduced for a Q&A. ”
As previously reported, U2’s “Winter” plays over the end credits and Hammond posits it could figure into the Oscars, but we’re pretty sure that track was already released in bonus-disc form (though technically just over a short film directed by Anton Corbijn that accompanies the digipack format release of No Line on the Horizon, so maybe that will still count). He also has some praise for Natalie Portman’s performance, but again, Hammond isn’t necessarily the greatest source on the web (Honestly after that major 2007 diss we stopped reading him all together; the evidence of quotes therein and the films he backed was beyond embarrassing).
Over on the opposite spectrum of things is a review in the recent issue of Film Comment which is not online, but written by Laura Kern and excerpted here (she also writes for the New York Times). She says that fans of Bier’s 2004 film (that certainly counts us) should, “steer clear of this ill-advised though faithful remake.” She says Portman cannot compare to Connie Nielsen, (the female lead in the original who is rather amazing) isn’t very believable as a mother of two and calls David Benioff’s script, “near-blank working.” She adds that the average Gyllenhaal gives a “respectable performance compared to Maguire” and says the appearance of Sam Shepard and Carey Mulligan add some clout, “but not nearly enough.”
It’s short, but overall a negative review. So thumbs up and thumbs down, really. And though we don’t follow Kern’s work closely, we’re inclined to side with almost anyone over Hammond. Still, we need to see it with our own eyes and are actually looking forward to it. We assume those that haven’t seen the original will have less worry and/or issues, but it is a remarkable film so Sheridan has a lot to live up to.
