Eli Sister (John C. Reilly) is a frontier hit man with a heart of gold. Familial duty forces the wouldbe shopkeeper to be one-half of a killing duo with his brother, Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix), a drunk just like their Pa. Together, they are the most-feared hired guns roaming the Oregon plains. Their mission in “The Sisters Brother” -- a darkly funny and (surprisingly) sweet Western -- is to find a prospector/chemist named Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed), torture him until he reveals his secret formula for mining gold, then kill him. Easy peasy. Especially when abetted by John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal), a "lead man" sending the brothers poetic dispatches on Warm’s whereabouts.
The movie -- based on the 2011 novel by Patrick deWitt and adapted and directed by France’s Jacques Audiard (“A Prophet”) -- isn’t as straightforward as it appears. This is not your grandfather’s Western. No, Audiard has more ironic thoughts on his mind, and his top-notch cast provides the perfect vessel to explore brotherhood, greed, friendship and sacrificing the life you want to live for the life you have to live.
It doesn’t always stick the landing. The shifts in tone are jarring, changing on a dime from Coen Brothers-esque to a more violent Tarantino vibe. I applaud the ambition, even if the slapstick and serious stuff don’t always meld. The plot moves slowly, like a man on horseback, as Audiard oscillates between the brothers and Morris tailing Warm. The film, set at the height of the Gold Rush, is lean on plot and heavy on character study, with the brothers regularly trading barbs and punches on their way to San Francisco, where all four characters will connect, much to the story’s benefit.
Be warned: “Sisters Brothers” is not for the squeamish. There’s blood, guts, huge spiders and a cringe-worthy amputation. The body count is high, “six or seven” in the opening frame alone, as the brothers botch a job, killing everyone inside a house. Horses are not safe, either. The sibs might murder, scheme and steal, but it’s not all grim. In one standout scene, Eli has a tender, if awkward, exchange with a prostitute, asking her to re-enact the moment the woman he loves gave him a red shawl. Every night Eli cuddles that wrap while falling asleep. It is ironic bits like that that forgive the film’s early monotony.
Gyllenhaal and Ahmed share an easy screen rapport, just like they did in the underrated thriller “Nightcrawler.” Ahmed’s Warm is an earnest fellow, hoping to make a buck so he can form a “true democratic society” in Texas. Gyllenhaal’s Morris speaks with precision and writes about his travels in a “book of adventures.” Rutger Hauer (“Bladerunner”), in a blink-and-you’ll miss him cameo plays the Commodore, the brothers’ employer.
The terrific cast props up the writing to make the material seem better than it is. Even watching Reilly’s Eli brush his teeth for the first time is weirdly sweet. With all this talk of gold propelling the action, it’s Reilly who has the Midas touch.