by Nathaniel R
Quip Quip Bang Bang. ← I probably should've saved that sentence for the eventual review of The Sisters Brothers but here we are with the trailer upon us just as we're trying to update the Oscar charts. The western comedy (?) is adapted from the novel by Patrick DeWitt which is about two assassins Eli (John C Reilly) and Charlie Sisters (Joaquin Phoenix), who are sent to a man named Warm (Riz Ahmed), who is accused of stealing from the Sisters' boss The Commodore (Rutger Hauer, unseen in this first trailer). More after the jump...
The trailer leaves us a bit off balance as to what to expect.
French master Jacques Audiard doing an English language Western Comedy? His movies (Read My Lips, The Beat that My Heart Skipped, A Prophet, etecetera) tend to be powerful and exciting but they aren't usually silly, you know! Is the trailer deceiving as to the film's tone? Does the movie swing from comedy to dramatic resonance? Either way we're excited to see the performances, particularly Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed reuniting post Nightcrawler.
How do I get the gold just beneath my feet?
Will they get more awards traction this time? They both got some attention for that earlier paranoid thriller but Oscar passed. Ahmed's career has really taken off since then and of course Gyllenhaal remains one of the industry's least awarded but most talented A list men.
The problem (at least with Oscar season) is that Jake does not seem to care about awards. You hear that all the time about actors but they prove differently quite regularly when they campaign like mad for the gold. Not so with Gyllenhaal who apears to be quite chill about it when awards season approaches. That might be why he still stands at only one Oscar nomination and was willing to forgo a Tony campaign entirely for his highly acclaimed work in Sunday in the Park with George on Broadway. The production opted not to be eligible at all and didn't invite Tony voters... that's not common even with the prevalence of limited runs with movie stars on the boards.
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