On the podcast this week, Steven and Sean are panning for gold and accidentally killing our new compatriots with this week’s 2018 film from Jacques Audiard, The Sisters Brothers.
Yes, the Sisters brothers. Yes, they get it all the time. They’ve heard all the jokes, and you really shouldn’t try to… Look, we’re just saying that these fellas are violent and they live in a violent time. Maybe making fun of their silly last name isn’t the best idea. Don’t you think? People in this film keep trying to kill them, but those same people always end up riddled with bullets. I think it’s safe to say that you’re not a better shot than they are, and they will take… you… out.
Now that we’ve gotten the ubiquitous, don’t-mess-with-these-boys warning out of the way, let’s talk about the film. As with so much else, everything that happens in this one comes down to insatiable greed. I can’t blame anybody. Who wouldn’t want to fill their old-timey satchels with armloads of shiny gold nuggets? Not I! Give me all the riches I can carry!
Therein lies the rub: the hungry quest for riches beyond your wildest dreams is going to make you paranoid, sloppy, and downright mean. You’re not going to be your best self when you’re on the hunt for money. Heck, happened to Humphrey Bogart’s character in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. We all saw how that one turned out.
Instead of losing yourself to an idealized vision of a possible future, why not learn to appreciate what you have in the present? For Charlie Sisters, he had to learn that his brother, Eli, was not the ungrateful killjoy he appeared. For Eli, he had to understand that his brother may end up being the death of him, but who better to go out with than the brother you love more than anything?
That’s the surprising lesson to this bloody, frenzied story: your family, whether it be by blood or by choice, should be appreciated, cared for, and loved. They’re going to be there for you through all of the hellish tribulations you may suffer through. They’re going to forgive you, even when you find it impossible to forgive yourself. They’re going to see the real value in you, even when you can’t see it yourself.
Ain’t that just so damn wholesome, coming from a movie that opens with a pair of brothers who ruthlessly murder a whole mess of people in the opening minutes?
(Recorded on April 05, 2021)
Links to Stuff We Mentioned:
The Sisters Brothers trailer - YouTube
The “through the trees” shot Steven referenced - Filmgrab
The top-down shot that Sean referenced - Filmgrab
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - IMDb
