Brothers (2009 film)

Last updated
Brothers
Brothersposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jim Sheridan
Screenplay by David Benioff
Based on Brødre
by Susanne Bier
and Anders Thomas Jensen
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Frederick Elmes
Edited by Jay Cassidy
Music by Thomas Newman
Production
companies
Distributed by Lionsgate
Release date
  • December 4, 2009 (2009-12-04)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesEnglish
Pashto
Budget$26 million [1]
Box office$43.5 million [1]

Brothers is a 2009 American psychological thriller war film directed by Jim Sheridan and written by David Benioff. A remake of the 2004 Danish film, it follows Captain Sam Cahill (portrayed by Tobey Maguire), a presumed-dead prisoner of the War in Afghanistan who deals with extreme PTSD while reintegrating into society following his release from captivity. [2] The film also stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Cahill's brother and Natalie Portman as his wife. Both films take inspiration from Homer's epic poem the Odyssey . [3]

Contents

The film received a mixed response and grossed $43 million. Maguire, however, received particular praise for his performance, receiving a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama.

Plot

United States Marine Corps officer Sam Cahill is about to be sent to war in Afghanistan. He is married to his high school girlfriend Grace, and together, they have 2 young daughters, Isabelle and Maggie. Sam's older brother, Tommy, is a criminal who is just released from prison on parole a few days before Sam's departure after recently being arrested for armed robbery, and moves in with his father Hank, and his stepmother Elsie. At a family dinner with Hank and Elsie, Maggie reveals to Tommy that Grace dislikes him, and Hank insults Tommy for his lack of understanding.

During Sam's tour, his helicopter is shot down and he and Private Joe Willis are the sole survivors. They are taken prisoner by the Taliban, but are declared killed in action by the government. Upon hearing the news of his brother's death, Tommy berates Grace for letting Sam go to Afghanistan, and rebuffs her when she offers to let him stay in her house. At Sam's funeral in absentia, Hank attempts to drive Elsie and the girls home while drunk, but Tommy intercepts him. Hank once again berates Tommy, and Tommy accuses Hank of influencing Sam to join the Marines because of his own Vietnam War service.

Tommy attempts to redeem himself and joins some friends to complete a kitchen remodel for Grace. Hank and Tommy also mend their relationship, and Grace bonds with Tommy, aided by his growing paternal connection with Isabelle and Maggie. Tommy also apologizes to the store owner whom he robbed. Grace and Tommy share a fireside kiss, but do not take their attraction any further. However, Tommy continues to remain close with the family and his nieces grow attached to him. Meanwhile, Sam and Joe are tortured by their captors and Sam is eventually forced to brutally beat Joe to death.

Sometime later, Sam is rescued and returns home, where he struggles to readjust, showing signs of severe post-traumatic stress disorder; his daughters grow fearful and resentful toward him. Sam also lies to Joe's widow about her husband's death. His paranoia also causes him to believe Grace and Tommy fell in love while he went away, causing him to remain aloof. When Grace questions Sam about what happened in Afghanistan, Sam demands to know what happened between her and Tommy. Grace tells Sam that she and Tommy kissed while he was gone, but Sam has trouble believing that is all that happened. When Grace questions Sam again, Sam does not respond and walks away.

During Maggie's birthday party, Isabelle is rude to her sister and jealously complains that Maggie got what she wanted for her birthday, while Isabelle did not. Isabelle chastises Sam for being in Afghanistan during her birthday, but being able to attend Maggie's. Isabelle then begins to play with a balloon loudly, and, despite objections from Sam and Grace, triggers Sam's PTSD, causing him to become irritated and annoyed and burst the balloon out of fury in front of the family. Already scared and resentful of Sam's erratic behavior and violent mood swings, a hurt Isabelle falsely claims that Tommy and Grace are having an affair and angrily tells Sam that she wishes he had actually died.

Returning home, Sam, believing his daughter's story, loses his temper and wrecks the kitchen with a crowbar in front of Grace angrily. He suddenly calms down when Tommy shows up and attempts to bring Sam into an embrace, trying to calm his brother's violent breakdown, while Grace isolates her daughters from their father. However, Sam immediately becomes defensive and takes his anger out on Tommy when he realizes that Tommy has already called the police. DOD Police arrive and confront Sam, leading into a standoff. He fires a pistol into the air and demands that the policemen kill him before holding the gun to his own head, contemplating suicide, but reluctantly changes his mind and surrenders after several protests from Tommy and a tearful Grace.

Sam is arrested and admitted to a Veterans' Affairs hospital. Grace visits, giving him an ultimatum that if he does not tell her the truth, Sam will lose her forever. Sam finally confesses that he killed Joe and they embrace, wondering if he will ever be able to live a normal life again.

Cast

Reception

Box office

On its opening weekend, the film opened #3 with $9,527,848 behind New Moon and The Blind Side . [4] Since its box office debut, the film has grossed $43,318,349 worldwide. [1]

Critical response

Brothers received mixed reviews from film critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 64% based on 158 reviews, with an average score of 6.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "It plays more like a traditional melodrama than the Susanne Bier film that inspired it, but Jim Sheridan's Brothers benefits from rock-solid performances by its three leads." [5] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 31 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [6]

Tobey Maguire received critical acclaim for his dramatic performance; Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars and wrote that Brothers is "Tobey Maguire's film to dominate, and I've never seen these dark depths in him before." [7] Claudia Puig of USA Today observed the resemblance between Maguire and Gyllenhaal, and praised their onscreen chemistry. Regarding Portman's performance, Puig opined that it was "subdued and reactive". [8] Writing for New York magazine, David Edelstein praised the three main actors: "Sheridan's actors work with their intellects fully engaged—and they engage us on levels we barely knew we had." He also complimented the cinematography and Sheridan's ability to pull the reader into the plot. [9] Entertainment Weekly 's Owen Gleiberman gave the film a rating of C+, writing, "Brothers isn't badly acted, but as directed by the increasingly impersonal Jim Sheridan, it’s lumbering and heavy-handed, a film that piles on overwrought dramatic twists until it begins to creak under the weight of its presumed significance." [10]

Accolades

Of his Golden Globe Award nomination, Tobey Maguire said "I had no expectation about getting a nomination, but I was watching nonetheless. My wife and my son got really excited. I was sort of surprised — I was like, 'Oh, wow.' And I couldn't hear the latter part of my name." The Edge of U2 described how the band planned to celebrate their nomination. "I think we might have a pint of Guinness and eat a potato in honor of (director) Jim (Sheridan) and his great piece of work." [11]

YearCeremonyCategoryRecipientsResult
2009 15th Critics' Choice Awards Best Young Actor / Actress Bailee Madison Nominated
36th Saturn Awards Best Action or Adventure FilmBrothersNominated
Best Actor Tobey Maguire Nominated
Best Actress Natalie Portman Nominated
Best Performance by a Younger Actor Bailee Madison Nominated
67th Golden Globe Awards Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama Tobey Maguire Nominated
Best Original Song"Winter" by U2 Nominated
2010 Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie Actor – Drama Tobey Maguire Nominated
Jake Gyllenhaal Nominated
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2009 Best Supporting Actress Natalie Portman Nominated
Denver Film Critics Society Awards 2009Best Original Song"Winter" By U2 Nominated

Home media

Brothers was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 23, 2010. [12]

Opera adaptation

Brothers – The Opera is an opera based on the original 2004 Danish version of the film by Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason; it was premiered at the Musikhuset Aarhus on 16 August 2017. It was commissioned by Den Jyske Opera. Kerstin Perski wrote the libretto and the director was Kasper Holten. To celebrate Aarhus as the European Capital of Culture 2017, three stage works – a musical, dance, and an opera all based on films by Susanne Bier – were commissioned and performed in Musikhuset. [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tobey Maguire</span> American actor and film producer (born 1975)

Tobias Vincent Maguire is an American actor and film producer. He is best known for playing the title character in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007), a role he later reprised in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Gyllenhaal</span> American actress and filmmaker (born 1977)

Margalit Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal is an American actress and filmmaker. Part of the Gyllenhaal family, she is the daughter of filmmakers Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Achs, and the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenhaal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake Gyllenhaal</span> American actor (born 1980)

Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal is an American actor. Born into the Gyllenhaal family, he is the son of film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, and the younger brother of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He began acting as a child, making his acting debut in City Slickers (1991), followed by roles in his father's films A Dangerous Woman (1993) and Homegrown (1998). His breakthrough roles were as Homer Hickam in the biographical drama film October Sky (1999) and as a psychologically troubled teenager in the science fiction psychological thriller film Donnie Darko (2001).

<i>Spider-Man 2</i> 2004 superhero film directed by Sam Raimi

Spider-Man 2 is a 2004 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Sam Raimi and written by Alvin Sargent from a story conceived by Michael Chabon and the writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, the film was produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Enterprises and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the second installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy and the sequel to Spider-Man (2002). The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Alfred Molina, Rosemary Harris, and Donna Murphy. Set two years after the events of Spider-Man, the film finds Peter Parker struggling to stop scientist Dr. Otto Octavius from recreating the dangerous experiment that killed his wife and left him neurologically fused to mechanical tentacles, while also dealing with an existential crisis between his dual identities that appears to be stripping him of his powers.

<i>Spider-Man 3</i> 2007 superhero film directed by Sam Raimi

Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Studios, and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it was directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Ivan and Alvin Sargent. It is the final installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and the sequel to Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). The film stars Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, alongside Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, James Cromwell, Rosemary Harris, and J. K. Simmons. It also marks the final acting appearance of Cliff Robertson before his retirement in the same year and his subsequent death in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Sheridan</span> Irish film director

Jim Sheridan is an Irish playwright and filmmaker. Between 1989 and 1993, Sheridan directed three critically acclaimed films set in Ireland, My Left Foot (1989), The Field (1990), and In the Name of the Father (1993), and later directed the films The Boxer (1997), In America (2003), and Brothers (2009). Sheridan received six Academy Award nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Sarsgaard</span> American actor (born 1971)

John Peter Sarsgaard is an American actor. He studied at the Actors Studio, before rising to prominence playing atypical and sometimes villainous roles in film and television.

<i>Sherrybaby</i> 2006 film by Laurie Collyer

Sherrybaby is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Laurie Collyer. The film premiered in the Dramatic Competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2006 and received a limited release in the United States on September 8, 2006.

<i>Brothers</i> (2004 film) 2004 Danish film

Brothers is a 2004 Danish psychological thriller war film directed by Susanne Bier and written by Bier and Anders Thomas Jensen. It stars Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Connie Nielsen and Ulrich Thomsen.

"Winter" is a song by rock band U2. The track was originally planned to be included on the band's 2009 album No Line on the Horizon, but it was cut at the end of the recording sessions as it did not fit the album's theme. The song does appear on the accompanying film Linear. "Winter" was written for the 2009 war film Brothers at the request of director Jim Sheridan, and it plays over the closing credits. Several different versions of the song have been recorded, including an uptempo rock arrangement on Linear and a slower acoustic version in Brothers. The song was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

<i>Away We Go</i> 2009 American film

Away We Go is a 2009 American romantic road comedy-drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. The film's two leads are John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. It is Mendes's first film without Thomas Newman's collaboration.

<i>Love & Other Drugs</i> 2010 film by Edward Zwick

Love & Other Drugs is a 2010 American romantic comedy-drama film directed, produced and co-written by Edward Zwick and based on Jamie Reidy's 2005 non-fiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, Josh Gad and Gabriel Macht, the film tells the story of a medicine peddler in 1990s Pittsburgh who starts a relationship with a young woman suffering from an illness that leads to Parkinson's disease.

<i>Crazy Heart</i> 2009 American film

Crazy Heart is a 2009 American drama film, written and directed by Scott Cooper in his feature directorial debut. Based on the 1987 novel of the same name by Thomas Cobb, the story was inspired by country singer Hank Thompson. Starring Jeff Bridges, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell, and Robert Duvall, the film follows an alcoholic country singer and songwriter who tries to turn his life around after beginning a relationship with a young journalist. Bridges, Farrell, and Duvall also sing in the film.

<i>Hall Pass</i> 2011 film by the Farrelly brothers

Hall Pass is a 2011 American comedy film produced and directed by the Farrelly brothers and co-written by them along with Pete Jones, the writer/director of Stolen Summer. It stars Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis.

<i>It All Came True</i> 1940 film by Lewis Seiler

It All Came True is a 1940 American musical comedy crime film starring Ann Sheridan as a fledgling singer and Humphrey Bogart, who was third-billed on movie posters, as a gangster who hides from the police in a boarding house. It is based on the Louis Bromfield novel Better Than Life. Sheridan introduced the hit song "Angel in Disguise". The picture was produced by Mark Hellinger and directed by Lewis Seiler. The cast also featured Jeffrey Lynn as the leading man, Zasu Pitts, and Una O'Connor.

<i>Love the Coopers</i> 2015 American Christmas comedy-drama film by Jessie Nelson

Love the Coopers is a 2015 American Christmas comedy-drama film directed by Jessie Nelson and written by Steven Rogers. The film stars an ensemble cast, including Alan Arkin, John Goodman, Ed Helms, Diane Keaton, Jake Lacy, Anthony Mackie, Amanda Seyfried, June Squibb, Marisa Tomei, Timothée Chalamet, Olivia Wilde and features the voice of Steve Martin, and follows a dysfunctional family who reunites for the holidays.

<i>The Kindergarten Teacher</i> (2018 film) 2018 film

The Kindergarten Teacher is a 2018 American drama film directed by Sara Colangelo. It is based on the 2014 Israeli film of the same name. It stars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Parker Sevak, Anna Baryshnikov, Rosa Salazar, Michael Chernus and Gael García Bernal. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 19, 2018. It was released on October 12, 2018, by Netflix in the United States and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Parker (Sam Raimi film series)</span> Film character played by Tobey Maguire

Peter Benjamin Parker, also known by his alter ego Spider-Man, is a superhero portrayed by Tobey Maguire, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. He is the protagonist of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film in 2002, its two sequels, and in tie-in video games. This version of the character was followed by Andrew Garfield's portrayal in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man duology (2012–2014), with a further iteration being portrayed by Tom Holland set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) (2016–present). Maguire reprised his role as a supporting character in the MCU film Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), appearing as an older version of himself alongside his two successors' versions of the character. To distinguish himself from the two other versions of himself, he is nicknamed "Peter-Two" by them, referred to by Marvel's official website as the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and in the film's script as "Raimi-Verse Peter" and "Raimi-Verse Spider-Man".

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Brothers (2009) Box Office". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  2. ↑ "A War Abroad Ignites a Battle at Home". The New York Times . December 3, 2009. Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  3. ↑ All Things Considered (2009-11-29). "Director Jim Sheridan On 'Brothers'". NPR. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
  4. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for December 4–6, 2009". Box Office Mojo . 2009-12-14. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  5. ↑ "Brothers (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved April 8, 2024.
  6. ↑ "Brothers (2009): Reviews". Metacritic . CNET Networks, Inc. Archived from the original on December 6, 2009. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
  7. ↑ Roger Ebert. "Brothers". Chicago Sun-Times . Archived from the original on 2012-03-12. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
  8. ↑ Puig, Claudia (2009-12-04). "Afghanistan war-themed 'Brothers' is a keeper - USATODAY.com". USA Today. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  9. ↑ Edelstein, David (2009-11-25). "David Edelstein on 'Brothers' and 'Up in the Air' -- New York Magazine Movie Review - Nymag". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  10. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (2009-12-02). "Brothers". EW.com. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  11. ↑ "Stars react to Golden Globe nominations". Yahoo! News. Associated Press. Retrieved 2009-12-15.[ dead link ]
  12. ↑ "Brothers DVD Release Date & Blu-ray Details". DVDsReleases. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Kulturhaupstadt Aarhus – Uraufführung der Oper Brødre" [Cultural capital Aarhus – World premiere of the opera Brødre]. Deutschlandfunk (in German). 17 August 2017. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.