MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Two new movies set more than a century ago depict a time when the world was just becoming modern. “The Sisters Brothers” is about a Wild West on the verge of being tamed. The biopic “Colette” is about a French novelist who refused to be tamed. And critic Bob Mondello says both films have a lot to offer if you tame your expectations.
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Charlie Sisters is violent. Eli Sisters is sensitive. But they’re both paid assassins, so you do not want to cross them.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “THE SISTERS BROTHERS”)
JOAQUIN PHOENIX: (As Charlie Sisters) This is the Sisters brothers. You don’t stand a chance.
MONDELLO: Though this is a dark comedy, the brothers Sisters are introduced shooting men in the face at point-blank range and burning a barn that sends a horse on fire galloping into the night. That level of brutality is justified by a manhunt for, of all things, a chemist named Warm.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “THE SISTERS BROTHERS”)
PHOENIX: (As Charlie Sisters) Warm has a formula. You pour it in the river. It lights up all the gold.
MONDELLO: Warm also has a formula for a non-capitalist utopia – not sure why he needs gold for that. John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix are the bickering brothers.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, “THE SISTERS BROTHERS”)
JOHN C REILLY: (As Eli Sisters) We could open a store together.
PHOENIX: (As Charlie Sisters) A store? This is nonsense.
MONDELLO: Riz Ahmed’s the hapless chemist they’re chasing and Jake Gyllenhaal a private eye who’s along for what becomes an increasingly eccentric ride. It’s a Wild West where there’s a brothel madam who’s a man, a spider whose bite can make your face look like
Article source: https://www.npr.org/2018/09/21/650508443/two-movies-set-a-century-ago-capture-the-coming-of-modern-age
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