Brothers in arms

Brothers
Starring: Tobey Maquire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard, Carey Mulligan
Director: Jim Sheridan
Rating: **** (out of 5)

Summary: Ex con Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal), sees his revered brother Sam (Tobey Maguire) go off to war in Afghanistan, whilst he stays at home and suffers the mental abuse of his father (Sam Shepard) and the scorn of Sam's wife (Natalie Portman).

I was initially apprehensive about seeing Brothers, the remake to the highly acclaimed Danish film. Not because of my undying love for the original (a film i'm now keen to take a look at) but because a) Mrs.Sonofkermode was very keen to see it, with tissues ready before the Orange Danny Glover ad had even finished and b) It was an early Sunday morning, a time of day more akin to sleep and cookery shows than Hollywood melodrama.

Imagine my surprise when despite the half shut eyes, awful trailers (seriously, when did "from the producers of 27 Dresses" become a seal of approval?) and disappointing pic "n" mix, Brothers held my attention from start to finish.

Director Jim Sheridan allows the relationships to simmer and drive the narrative and in turn gets fantastic perfomances from all three leads. Tobey Maquire, though admittedly the more emotionally volatile, never falls into the realm of histronics or over the top physical movement. Macquire is wound up, rigid and straight as a board but exudes fear and sadness with one wide-eyed stare.

In turn, Portman and Gyllenhaal do well with their evolving relationship. Showing contempt, admiration and burgeoning romance in convincing, equal measure. In fact, far from Portman's glamour distracting from her performance it actually adds a bittersweet edge to her character. She's the college sweetheart, the girl everyone fell in love with at school but now finds herself widowed in a dead end situation.

Some critics have called Brothers an unbelievable old style Hollywood melodrama, but what's wrong with that every now and again. There are some plot devices that can be described as slightly far-fetched and Sheridan is so understated in his direction that he adds an out of place decorating montage seemingly to wake himself up, but Brothers shows that the next generation of A list talent isn't confined to just selling tabloid newspapers and magazines. Maquire, Portman and Gyllenhaal deserve the adulation inevitably heading their way.