Culture
18 Jan 10

Brothers

There’s a story, probably rubbish, about Queen Victoria, who, taken with his portrait of an owl, asked the painter and nonsense poet, Edward Lear, how he managed to produce such lifelike images of animals. “I peek into their hearts, ma’am,” he explained to the old wagon, who promptly hired him to give her drawing lessons. Watching Brothers, we’re inclined to think the same thing about Jim Sheridan and child performers; he peeks into their hearts.

The film’s smart, topical reworking of Greek motifs provides plenty of scope for this actor’s director par excellence and his glitzy A-list cast but it’s the uncanny child performances from Bailee Madison and Taylor Geare that steal the show.
Working from a solid screenplay by David Benioff, this slavishly faithful remake of Susanne Bier’s 2004 arthouse hit creates epic vibes from domestic squabbles. As the film opens, nogoodnik Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal) is getting out of prison just as his doting, older, responsible sibling Sam (Tobey Maguire) is shipping out for Afghanistan. When the latter crash lands and is taken hostage by the Taliban, his devastated ‘widow’ (the divine Ms. Portman) takes solace in an increasingly housebroken Tommy who steps in to help out with some DIY and the kids. Army dad Sam Shepard looks on, hard liquor to hand, in sorrow and disapproval.
Just as the pair are almost getting cosy, Sam returns, traumatised by torture and conflict, to face an entirely new set of problems at home. As his mind succumbs to shell shock and paranoia, he can’t help but notice all the home improvements.
It’s the oldest story in the book, but this slickly produced Hollywood rendition provides plenty of razzmatazz and more than a little festering Catholic guilt. These characters cannot forgive themselves or anyone else, a quandary that inspires an impeccable cast to turn it up to eleven.