Brothers

This film blew me away. I remember when I first saw its poster at the subway station closest to my office, I thought this looked like a good film, not just because of its head-turning, beautiful cast (Toby McGuire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman), but also that the poster exuded something like a powerful undercurrent. There was certainly a pulling force.


Sam Cahill (Toby McGuire) and Grace Cahill (Natalie Portman) are happily married with two lovely daughters, the image of a poster-perfect family. Aside from having a beautiful wife and children, Sam is a strong-willed, responsible marine captain, eager to serve his country, and loves his fellow soldiers. In short, he is the son that makes all parents proud. Along comes “Uncle Tom” (Jake Gyllenhaal), Sam’s younger brother, the black sheep of the Cahills who can’t seem to get his life in order and has a strained relationship with everyone in the family, except his brother Sam, who genuinely cares for him.


The story begins with Sam about to be dispatched again to Afghanistan, and Tom on parole from serving his time in prison for assaulting a woman (I think). At first it took a little bit of getting-used-to to see the three of them taking on the roles of parents and uncle. But they are very convincing, comfortable in their roles.


Something goes terribly wrong in Afghanistan, Sam is assumed killed in action, but is in fact captured by the enemy and imprisoned in a dark cell for months. The family grieves, and all of a sudden, Tom “grows up” and steps up, lending a shoulder and comforting presence to the devastated Grace and the two girls. Just when the long time strained relationship between Tom and Grace seems to take a turn for the better, and a spark of affection materializes between them, Sam is found and rescued, and he comes back.


But he comes back a changed man, a ghost of his former self, scarred for life from physical and mental tortures endured during his captivity. For me, from this point on, the “real” drama begins. And Toby McGuire BLEW ME AWAY with a gripping performance, delivered with such jarring, and sometimes terrifying force. Of course, both Portman and Gyllenhaal are stellar, but it’s McGuire that really makes this film take off. I could hardly believe my eyes how very different he looks after he comes back. His face almost distorted, his gaze unfocused but intense at the same time, his eyes glassy, and his limbs wiry (a sharp contrast to before), and his gait unnatural. All of his physical changes effectively echo a deeply wounded and suffering soul. He becomes unreachable and almost like a shadow, whereas Tom becomes a bit too comfortable assuming the central male role of the family.


The two little girls deserve a special applause! They don’t pale at all, acting alongside McGuire, Gyllenhaal and Portman. The scene of Isabella’s birthday dinner, oh gosh, I was holding my breath throughout that entire scene, just waiting for her to drive Sam over the edge.


The only thing I felt debatable is the ending. It felt too abrupt, almost like the filmmakers cut off the real ending and decided, “ok, we will just end here.” But everything that builds up to that point is just amazing.


The story of “Brothers” is not original; the film is an American remake of a Danish film. The Danish film, from what I’ve heard in filmmakers’ commentary, seems to have a slightly different take, focusing more on the illicit relationship between the Tom character and the Grace character. The American version probably toned it down, shifting the focus to family. But whether this film intended to or not, it does send a powerful anti-war message, what war could do to a man. A film is a wonderful thing when good looks and good acting are aligned.

Match Point

It is interesting watching Match Point right after watching Brideshead Revisited (2009).  In Brideshead Revisited, Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode) reminds me of someone I know, but there is no resemblance whatsoever with that same person upon seeing his performance as Tom Hewitt in Match Point.  This indeed proves Goode is an excellent actor.  But he merely plays a supporting role in Match Point.  It is through him that the real protagonist Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is introduced to a lifestyle of luxury and comforts, his career and future secured by marriage to the all-too-common (but sweet) Chloe Hewitt.  But of course, this is all too good to be true.

Meyers delivers a satisfactory performance.  Its his solo show, really.  But overall, the film suffers from a rather commonplace plot, IMO.  About half way through, I thought, please let there be a murder, or else it would just be such a boring story.  And I was not disappointed.  I rapped my desk with glee (not decent, I know) when the scene came up where Meyers starts fumbling in his father-in-law's shotgun room.   I can't explain why but I was rooting for him to get away with the whole clumsy murder of Nola -- the victim of every man's lust.  I think its because he's such a mediocre and pathetic person that he deserves to get away with it and live his rather mediocre and pathetic (though rich) life into his ripe old age.  I find no one particularly likable in this film.  The Hewitts strike me as careless, heartless and stupid people, living naively and unintentionally, robbed of sensibilities only those who climbed up from below could understand.  Nola is a hapless tragedy who always has everything to lose, and who just can't seem to cling to something better.  And Tom (Goode) is mostly just in the background, serving as a contrast to Meyers, who has to juggle a dozen things at a time to hang on to his hard earned place.

Meyers is the only interesting character, comparatively speaking.  But he is not the first of his kind and he won't be the last.  He stands to lose everything, just like Nola.  The only difference between him and Nola is that luck seems to be on his side. 

At some point in the film, Meyers confides his problems to a friend, and he talks about his feelings towards the two women, Chloe and Nola, calling one "love" and the other "lust".  There is certainly a lot of lust in the film.  But I didn't find an iota of love, not from Meyers, not from Tom, not from Nola.  There is no genuine affection in this film, only a chockfull of greed, vanity, stupidity and smallish people.  Though Chloe's feeling towards Meyers may be genuine, but she is just too a-dime-a-dozen to be likable, a sweet and simple little thing, having everything and anything she desires only because she has the right papa to secure her happiness.