| Brothers | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jim Sheridan |
| Screenplay by | David Benioff |
| Based on | Brødre bySusanne Bier andAnders Thomas Jensen |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Frederick Elmes |
| Edited by | Jay Cassidy |
| Music by | Thomas Newman |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Lionsgate[1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Languages |
|
| Budget | $26 million[2][3] |
| Box office | $43.5 million[2] |
Brothers is a 2009 Americanpsychological thriller film directed byJim Sheridan and written byDavid Benioff. The film is a remake ofthe 2004 Danish film bySusanne Bier, and both films take inspiration from the epic poemOdyssey byHomer.[4] The film starsTobey Maguire,Jake Gyllenhaal,Natalie Portman,Sam Shepard,Clifton Collins Jr., andMare Winningham. The film follows Captain Sam Cahill, aUSMC officer who is captured by theTaliban after he is presumably killed in thewar in Afghanistan. Upon being rescued and reunited with his brother Tommy and wife Grace, he suffers from severePTSD as he struggles to reintegrate into society.[5]
Brothers was theatrically released in the United States on December 4, 2009, byLionsgate, and received mixed reviews from critics, although Maguire's acting was praised. The film grossed $45 million against a $26 million budget.[2][3] The film was nominated forBest Actor for Maguire andBest Original Song for "Winter", performed byU2, at the67th Golden Globe Awards.
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USMC officer Sam Cahill is about to be sent towar inAfghanistan in 2007. He is married to his high school girlfriend, Grace, with whom he has two young daughters, Isabelle and Maggie. Sam's younger brother, Tommy, is released from prison onparole after being arrested forarmed robbery, just a few days before Sam's departure. At a family dinner with Hank and Elsie, the Cahills' parents, Hank insults Tommy for not understanding his brother's duty and for his criminal past.
During Sam's tour, his helicopter is shot down, and he and Private Joe Willis are the sole survivors. They are takenprisoner by theTaliban, but are declaredkilled in action by theUS government. Upon hearing the news of his brother'spresumed death, Tommy berates Grace for letting Sam go to Afghanistan. At Sam'smemorial service, 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 ownVietnam War service.
Tommy helps in completing a kitchen remodel for Grace. He attempts to mend his relationship with Hank, and he bonds with Grace, aided by his growing paternal connection with Isabelle and Maggie. Tommy also apologizes to the bank teller who he held at gunpoint during the robbery. Grace and Tommy unwittingly 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 with a metal pipe.
Several months later, Sam is rescued and returns home, where he struggles to readjust, showing signs of severepost-traumatic stress disorder; his daughters grow fearful and resentful toward him. Sam also lies to Joe's widow about her husband's death. Hisparanoia also causes him to believe Grace and Tommy fell in love while he went away. When Grace questions Sam about what happened in Afghanistan, Sam does not answer and demands to know what happened between her and Tommy. Grace tells Sam that she and Tommy shared only one kiss while he was gone, but Sam has trouble believing that is all that happened.
During Maggie's birthday party, Tommy shows up with a woman, Tina. While Isabelle plays with a few of Maggie's new toys, Isabelle complains that she never got what she wanted for her birthday, and that Sam was also absent on her birthday. She is also irritated by the reprimand of her parents and the attention shown to Tina, then begins to play with a balloon loudly, causing Sam to become exasperated and annoyed and pop it in rage in front of the family. 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, Grace puts the daughters to bed. Isabelle apologizes to Grace, saying that she prefers having her Uncle Tommy around over their own father. Grace assures both of the girls that Sam will get better soon. Grace then calls Elsie, concerned for their safety. Tommy prepares to go over to their house as Elsie urges Hank to call the police. Sam, believing his daughter's story and angry about killing Joe in order to get back home, loses his temper and angrily wrecks the kitchen with a crowbar. He briefly comforts when Tommy shows up and proceeds to embrace him, in order to calm his brother's furious breakdown. However, Sam becomes defensive and holds Tommy at gunpoint.DOD Police arrive and confront Sam, leading into a standoff. He fires a pistol into the air anddemands that the policemen kill him. Tommy quiets the officers and attempts to talk to Sam, but Sam puts the gun to his own head, before tearfully saying to Tommy that he's "drowning" and he surrenders.
Sam is arrested and admitted to aVeterans' Affairs hospital. After his arrest, Grace reads the letter Sam wrote her, to be delivered in the event of his passing. Eventually, Grace visits him, giving him anultimatum that if he does not tell her the truth, he will lose both her and his family forever. Sam finally confesses that he killed Joe and they embrace. Devastated and traumatized, he wonders if he will ever be able to live a normal life again.
| Brothers (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
|---|---|
| Film score by | |
| Released | November 30, 2009 (2009-11-30) |
| Recorded | 2009 |
| Studio | Eastwood Scoring Stage,Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank |
| Genre | Film score |
| Length | 24:56 |
| Label | Relativity Music Group |
| Producer | Thomas Newman |
Brothers (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album for the film, which contains the score composed byThomas Newman. It was released byRelativity Music Group on November 30, 2009. The song "Winter", performed by the Irish rock bandU2, was released on February 27, 2009, and was nominated for theGolden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the67th Golden Globe Awards.
All music is composed byThomas Newman.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Homecoming" | 1:50 |
| 2. | "Bad News" | 1:01 |
| 3. | "Uncle Tommy" | 2:40 |
| 4. | "Afghanistan" | 1:23 |
| 5. | "In The Hole" | 0:41 |
| 6. | "Sold" | 1:27 |
| 7. | "Ice Skating" | 1:02 |
| 8. | "Not Another Word" | 0:53 |
| 9. | "Brothers" | 1:59 |
| 10. | "No Value" | 1:49 |
| 11. | "The Pipe" | 2:42 |
| 12. | "Snowman" | 0:48 |
| 13. | "Night Graves" | 1:05 |
| 14. | "War Hero" | 0:49 |
| 15. | "What Happened?" | 4:43 |
| Total length: | 24:56 | |
Brothers grossed $28.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $14.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $43.5 million.[2] It was produced on a budget of $26 million.[2][3]
In the United States,Brothers opened on December 4, 2009, alongsideEverybody's Fine andArmored. It grossed $3.6 million on its first day, in 2,088 theaters, with an average of $1,711 per theater.[6] It grossed $9.5 million in its opening weekend, with an average of $4,563 per theater, ranking in third place behindThe Twilight Saga: New Moon.[7] The film closed on January 21, 2010, with $28.5 million domestically.
Brothers received mixed reviews from film critics. On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 63% of 156 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "It plays more like a traditional melodrama than the Susanne Bier film that inspired it, but Jim Sheridan'sBrothers benefits from rock-solid performances by its three leads."[8]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 58 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[9] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[10]
Tobey Maguire received critical acclaim for his dramatic performance;Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars and wrote thatBrothers is "Tobey Maguire's film to dominate, and I've never seen these dark depths in him before."[11]Claudia Puig ofUSA 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".[12] Writing forNew 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.[13]Entertainment Weekly'sOwen 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."[14]
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 15th Critics' Choice Awards[15] | Best Young Actor / Actress | Bailee Madison | Nominated |
| 36th Saturn Awards[16] | Best Action or Adventure Film | Brothers | Nominated | |
| Best Actor | Tobey Maguire | Nominated | ||
| Best Actress | Natalie Portman | Nominated | ||
| Best Performance by a Younger Actor | Bailee Madison | Nominated | ||
| 67th Golden Globe Awards[17] | Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | Tobey Maguire | Nominated | |
| Best Original Song | "Winter" byU2 | Nominated | ||
| 2010 Teen Choice Awards[18] | Choice Movie Actor – Drama | Tobey Maguire | Nominated | |
| Jake Gyllenhaal | Nominated | |||
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards 2009[19] | Best Supporting Actress | Natalie Portman | Nominated | |
| Denver Film Critics Society Awards 2009[20] | Best Original Song | "Winter" ByU2 | Nominated |
Brothers was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 23, 2010.[21]
Brothers – The Opera is an opera based on the original 2004 Danish version of the film by Icelandic composerDaníel Bjarnason; it was premiered at theMusikhuset Aarhus on 16 August 2017. It was commissioned byDen Jyske Opera. Kerstin Perski wrote the libretto and the director wasKasper Holten. To celebrate Aarhus as theEuropean 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.[22]
