Movie Review: Brothers

Brothers (2009) 

Directed by Jim Sheridan 

Written by David Benioff 

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard, Clifton Collins Jr.

Release Date December 4th, 2009

Published January 10th, 2010

Streaming on Starz via Amazon Prime 

It's interesting how critics can disagree so thoroughly. When the movie Brothers was released in December of 2009 most critics praised the work of Tobey Maguire and touted him as an Oscar contender. When I considered the film I felt that Tobey Maguire's performance was the film's weakest link and that Jake Gyllenhaal was the standout.

Brothers arrives on DVD this week and you can weigh in on which actor you prefer or maybe you love them both. One thing is certain, while I have my reservations about Maguire's performance, this story of one brother thought lost in war and another finding himself in the company of family has moments of great power and deeply felt emotions.

Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal) has long been the black sheep of his family. His father was a General (Sam Shepard) and his brother Sam (Tobey Maguire) has followed in dad's footsteps. While Tommy has bounced from job to job and finally a stint in prison, Sam joined the army, settled down with Grace (Natalie Portman) and had two beautiful daughters.

Despite their differences Tommy and Sam are close and Sam is there when Tommy gets out of prison. Soon after however he is off to war in Afghanistan leaving Tommy to try and reconnect with his family which because of strains with his dad is not easy and soon he is returning to some bad behaviors.

On a mission Sam's helicopter is shot down and he and another soldier are taken hostage. Grace is soon informed that her husband is dead. You likely know where this story is headed as Grace informs Tommy of his brothers seeming demise and the two begin to turn their mutual grief into a comforting romance that will become quite uncomfortable when Sam returns home.

Brothers was directed by the humanist director Jim Sheridan whose portraits of humanity In America and My Left Foot are filled such astonishing truth and beauty that it's no surprise they were mostly ignored by audiences though lauded by critics and awards givers. Sheridan's style focuses the action in the hearts and minds of tough, damaged characters and in Brothers that focus comes through in the remarkable work of Jake Gyllenhaal.

The actor once known as Bubble Boy continues to evolve into one of our finest actors and even when playing a role where he seems to have less range to play than his co-star he shines by so effortlessly bringing his inner turmoil to the surface with quiet dignity and not merely the grand gesture. 

Gyllenhaal's performance is illuminated next to the more showy and forceful performance of Tobey Maguire whose grandstanding shouting stand in for honest emotions and understanding. With far more range to play with from the trauma of war and perceived betrayal, Maguire fails to connect and simply falls back on scenery chewing. 

Natalie Portman is caught between the brothers and her performance is a little lost in the shuffle. Portman exudes pain and warmth in scenes with Gyllenhaal while cowering in fear in scenes with Maguire, Portman's performance struggles depending who she is sharing the screen with. 

Problems asides, Jim Sheridan's direction is masterful and the story evolves one powerful, emotional scene after another until it reaches exceptional climax. Gyllenhaal is MVP doing his best to ground the story in a believable emotional realm while Maguire overplays and Portman vacillates between the two extremes. 

Flawed but still moving, Brothers is worth renting for arguably the best performance in the career of Jake Gyllenhaal. Jake is making the big move to blockbusters in Prince of Persia this summer, here's hoping he brings the same strength he showed in Brothers to his first major blockbuster.

Movie Review Inhale

Inhale (2010) 

Directed by Baltasar Kormakur

Written by Baltasar Kormakur 

Starring Dermot Mulroney, Diane Kruger, Sam Shepard

Release Date October 22nd, 2010 

November 5th, 2010 

“Inhale” is a gloomy B-movie melodrama from Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur who made a strong US debut back in 2005 with the underground hit “A Little Trip to Heaven” starring future Oscar nominees Forest Whitaker and Jeremy Renner. This time, with a far less flashy cast, Kormakur is telling a story that, like “A Little Trip to Heaven,” is about money and the root of all evil.

“Inhale” stars Dermot Mulroney as upstanding New Mexico District Attorney Paul Stanton. Paul and his wife Diane (Inglourious Basterds sire Diane Kruger) have a daughter (Mia Stallard) who is dying from a rare lung disorder. She needs a lung transplant but she is far too low on a long list of people waiting for a transplant.

Desperate, Paul uses a tip from his doctor (Rosanna Arquette) to blackmail a powerful friend (Sam Shepard) who used some low connections in Mexico to get an illicit heart transplant. Soon, Paul is in Juarez, Mexico, knocking on doors and getting the holy hell beat of him in his pursuit of a group of American doctors performing transplants for those with the cash to pay to move to the front of the line.

Dermot Mulroney is an actor who was always handsome enough to become a crossover mainstream star but it just never happened. Whether it was just his choice of roles or a conscious attempt to avoid the trappings of becoming a star, Mulroney has always toiled on the edges of fame in the uncanny valley between direct to video and made for cable.

In “Inhale” Mulroney finds a meaty role and plays it with a stalwart bullheaded determination that is invigorating to an otherwise shoddy narrative. There is a good deal of stalling going on in “Inhale.” Director Komakur uses an unnecessary device, shifting between the present and past, as a way of padding out the story to a feature length.

Yes, the flashbacks lay the groundwork for Paul’s motivation but there were more efficient ways of delivering the same information. A scene involving two anonymous characters, a young boy and his mother, and a violent car wreck feels exploitatively violent even as the aftermath helps set the odds that Paul is facing in getting a legal transplant for his daughter.

Later, in scenes set in Juarez, Komakur makes yet another exploitative choice in setting Paul up for blackmail by the men from whom he is seeking a black market transplant. Certainly, there had to be a more elegant form of blackmail than this scene involving Paul and a transvestite hooker. The wreck and the transvestite are both unnecessary and ugly additions that serve only to make an already grim story grimmer while padding out a story that barely has the juice for a feature length.

The violent car wreck, Paul’s repeated beatings and the transvestite distract and detract from a fine performance by Mulroney who nearly fights through it all to deliver the final blow in a surprising and unconventional finale. Sadly, as much as I enjoyed Mulroney’s performance and the underlying notion of the way rich people can treat the poor as commodities, right down to their organs, there is too much of Komakur’s absurd tendency toward B-Movie exploitation for me to recommend “Inhale.”