Overview
Two brothers navigate the complexities of loyalty and ambition in the wild west, where gold fever ignites a deadly pursuit.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Brutal
- sardonic
- witty
- melancholic
- western night
- character drama evening
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film a satisfying, unexpectedly funny revisionist western, elevated by its visual craft and the well-matched performances of its leading men.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The Sisters brothers pursue a target as professional assassins while killings, hardships, and criminal routines are repeatedly filtered through dry humor.
Eli's personal crisis and growing doubts about his career place his relationship with Charlie under pressure during their journey.
Eli begins to doubt the longevity of assassination as a way of life, while Hermann offers a potentially different path.
The assassins track Hermann across roughly one thousand miles from Oregon toward San Francisco through desert and Gold Rush territory.
Films like The Sisters Brothers, and why
True Grit
revisionist western setting, dry black humor, morally compromised outlaws, and a mix of brutality with melancholy
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
bleakly comic western violence, philosophical criminal protagonists, and an austere frontier atmosphere
In Bruges
brotherly criminal partnership, darkly comic tonal shifts, and emotionally conflicted male characters
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
literary western storytelling, frontier violence, and a reflective examination of masculine brutality
Movie Details
- Director
- Jacques Audiard
- Release Date
- 2018-09-19
- Runtime
- 121 min
- Rating
- 6.8 / 10 (2159)
Cast
- John C. Reilly
- Joaquin Phoenix
- Jake Gyllenhaal
- Riz Ahmed
- Rebecca Root
- Allison Tolman
- Rutger Hauer
- Carol Kane
- Patrice Cossonneau
- Zac Abbott
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, Sundance Now, Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel
- Rent
- Google Play Movies, YouTube
- Buy
- Apple TV Store
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Sisters Brothers about?
- Two hired-killer brothers chase a prospector across the Gold Rush frontier while one of them begins to imagine a life beyond violence.
- What is The Sisters Brothers like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Sisters Brothers as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is The Sisters Brothers violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in The Sisters Brothers as brutal.
- What did critics think of The Sisters Brothers?
- Critics broadly found the film a satisfying, unexpectedly funny revisionist western, elevated by its visual craft and the well-matched performances of its leading men.
- Which films are like The Sisters Brothers?
- Films with a similar feel include True Grit, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, In Bruges, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
- How long is The Sisters Brothers?
- The Sisters Brothers runs 121 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Sisters Brothers?
- In United States, The Sisters Brothers streams on Philo, AMC Plus Apple TV channel, AMC+ Amazon Channel, AMC+ Roku Premium Channel, AMC+, Sundance Now, Lionsgate+ Amazon Channel.
