Brothers A Must See

I watched the film Brothers last night and was completely blown away. I haven't watched a movie as powerful as this in years. It puts every movie nominated for an Academy Award this year to shame and I'm not exaggerating. I'm surprised that we haven't heard more about this film in the media because the acting was legendary. I always thought that Tobey Maguire was a decent actor after seeing him in Spider-Man and Pleasantville. Little did I know that one day he would become one of my favorite actors. I cannot say enough about his performance in this film. His emotions touched me to the core. The way he captured every facet of his character should be a learning tool for actors trying to better their performance. Don't get me wrong as I'm focusing on Maguire's performance because it didn't completely take the spotlight away from Natalie Portman or Jake Gyllenhaal. I don't know what casting did to find the right combination of actors for this film or what the director did to bring these actors together to make them so believable as a family. Whatever they did, it worked and the cast delivered a performance of a lifetime. These three actors made such an amazing combination that it would do the film industry an injustice if they weren't paired together again in the future for another hit film.

I'm not going into too much detail about the plot itself. I choose not to do this when the story is so great that I wouldn't want to be responsible for giving away even 30 seconds of it. I'll focus on the acting simply because I was taken aback by its sheer perfection. I expected nothing but the best from Natalie Portman so her performance was not as surprising. She is great at throwing everything she has into her character, but even she seemed to be completely absorbed into story. She could have starred in this film without saying a word because we could relate to every changing expression on her face. The magic of this film not only lies in the script but in what is unsaid such as expressions like these and heart-felt passion radiated from the actors' every expression. The feelings eminating from each actor's every move and facial gesture were so true to life that it could draw even the toughest critics deep into the story. You will forget where you are when you watch Brothers and you will most likely forget your troubles and realize just how much you have to be thankful for. This story will take you through a variety of emotions and will keep you hoping and guessing right through to the very end. The film is left slightly open-ended but not so much that there is no closure, in fact as far as open-ends go; this was probably executed in the best fashion possible.

In closing, I'd like to go further by offering two thumbs up for Jake Gyllenhaal's performance. Holy cow. Even though he was great in Brokeback Mountain, he was never on my mind as an actor who sticks out as being stupendous. To be completely honest, something about him annoyed me and I couldn't pinpoint what it was, all I know is that this feeling disappeared about 15 minutes into watching this movie. You must see Brothers, if not for the great heart-wrenching story, then for acting alone. There is no doubt that we will see this film at the Oscars and if Best Supporting Actress doesn't go to Bailee Madison (daughter of Maguire and Portman in the film), I will never watch the Oscars again. I look forward to finally watching The Blind Side tonight starring Sandra Bullock but I'm secretly afraid of being disappointed after just watching this blockbuster. I'm watching this out of sheer curiosity rather than genuine interest as it looks to be a fairly simple movie. I could be completely wrong and it may end up being a little deeper than expected which is what I'm hoping for, but I'll be sure to update you soon!

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By: Frank Bilotta