Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) is the wilder, younger brother of Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) a decorated Marine whose father (Sam Shepard) idolizes him. Sam is madly in love with his high-school-sweetheart-wife, Grace (Natalie Portman) and his two little girls. But, when Sam goes off to war and assumedly dies in Afghanistan, Tommy is forced to be the uncle to his nieces and the friend to his brother’s wife that he’s previously ignored. Or in other words, the wrong brother has died, so now the bad brother has to step up to the plate. Not so easy. Sam’s funeral takes place, their lives go on and everything seems fine. Until it isn’t. Then Portman and Gyllenhaal are torn between loyalty, love and a frosty dynamic that hangs between them. This movie is a rare Oscar-worthy gem. It evokes all-over-the-map, rare emotions previously felt in movies like “The Perfect Storm” for its man’s man camaraderie and “The Deer Hunter” for the battle moments/prison/love triangle between two brothers and a woman they pine for. Directed by Jim Sheridan – who did a similar film about the emotional battles of families with “In America” – this “In the Name of the Father” Oscar genius again cements you to your seat from the opening scene. But when you think it can’t get any better, “Brothers” continues to elevate you as it sharply alters scenes between the insanity of Sam’s prison camp to his wife back home debating something as menial as kitchen wall colors. The performances of the small daughters – Taylor Gearae and Bailee Madison – are the best child actors out there, while Gyllenhall, Maguire and Portman give us their peek performances. They actually possess the identities of these characters the way Sean Penn did in “Mystic River.” A definite top ten contender. Four tiaras
