Brothers (2009)

This is really good, though tense. The children in this are so convincing I suddenly had flashbacks of director Jim Sheridan's In America (2002) and his debut, My Left Foot (1989), which had wonderful performances by young people as well (and his In the Name of the Father (1993) and The Boxer (1997) were great, too). Bailee Madison, as the older daughter Isabelle, is 10 now and portrays great ranges of emotion without even speaking, and Taylor Geare, as Maggie, shows wisdom and cuteness without appearing to try (her imdb resumé omits her real age, but says that she will be in a segment directed by Natalie Portman of New York, I Love You (2009)). Portman (who made a splashy film debut around age 13 in The Professional (1994), and was wonderful in Zach Braff's quirky Garden State (2004), Mike Nichols' intense Closer (2004) (which earned her an Oscar nomination), and her segment, acting only, of Paris, je t'aime (2006 - a sister film of New York, I Love You); yes, she was in Star Wars II-III, but I didn't like those) plays their mother in this drama about two brothers, one of whom is her husband. Tobey Maguire (first came to my attention in the searing The Ice Storm (1997), was great in Pleasantville (1998), The Cider House Rules (1999), Wonder Boys (2000), Seabiscuit (2003), and three Spider-Mans. 4 and 5 are in the works!) is the career Army captain who is presumed dead in Afghanistan, and Jake Gyllenhaal (I've liked him in everything of his I've seen: Donnie Darko (2001), Moonlight Mile (2002), The Day After Tomorrow (2004), of course Brokeback Mountain (2005), which got him his Oscar nomination, Proof (2005), Jarhead (2005), and Zodiac (2007)) is his brother, the screw-up ex-con. Sam Shepherd (I particularly liked his 1980's work--Resurrection (1980) is on my desert island list, Frances (1982), The Right Stuff (1983), Crimes of the Heart (1987), Baby Boom (1987), Steel Magnolias (1989)--all good stuff) also turns in a great performance as the flawed father of the brothers. Despite seeing An Education before this, we did not recognize star Carey Mulligan playing the wife of the Army private (she said her scene was shot late at night and was mostly improvised). Brothers is adapted from the Danish movie Brødre (2004), which piled up a bunch of nominations and wins at festivals worldwide. There is a lot of snow in this one, as one might expect in Denmark, yet it was shot entirely in New Mexico. This version features some songs by U2 and Bono (also prominent in Sheridan's earlier work). We enjoyed it thoroughly.