The Sisters Brothers

Neither a nostalgic throwback to traditional westerns nor a revisionist antiwestern, this advances a positive view of camaraderie between individualist western types while subtly critiquing the unfettered capitalist system in which they operate.

Erudite, visceral and chuckle-worthy, this western is based on Patrick deWitt's novel and starts out as the story of two gun-toting, chalk-and-cheese brothers, only to become more mysterious.

Images of the Oregon trail's deserted beauty invoke the genre's cinematic history, but these aren't John Ford's stoic, taciturn cowboys.

The Sisters Brothers hovers unconvincingly between tones.

It's a measure of the four exceptional central performances (from Reilly, Phoenix, Gyllenhaal and Ahmed) that the film remains so engaging in spite of its narrative digressions and moments of very bleak violence.

The level of production is above what kind of film it is.

Despite its shaky tone, some of the humor lands really well. And it’s a lot of fun watching such an eclectic cast bite into this fascinating assortment of characters.

With memorable performances throughout this extraordinary cast, The Sisters Brothers is another Audiard film whose tonality withstands categorization. It's neither a straightforward Western nor merely revisionist.

A loose, funny, thoughtful and near-surreal western.

Episode 15: The West Was Red