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Movies / On DVD / Brothers
Brothers

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Brothers (2005)

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Reviews Counted:70

Fresh:62

Rotten:8

Average Rating:7.5/10

Consensus: This tense, understated drama explores the complications of individual and social ethics stemming from the repercussions of war on one man and his family.

Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Synopsis: Connie Nielsen, who has played pivotal roles in such English-language films as GLADIATOR, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, and RUSHMORE, is the powerful and emotional heart of BROTHERS, a moving Danish film... Connie Nielsen, who has played pivotal roles in such English-language films as GLADIATOR, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, and RUSHMORE, is the powerful and emotional heart of BROTHERS, a moving Danish film set in her home country. Directed by Susanne Bier (who made the Dogme 95 film OPEN HEARTS), BROTHERS tells the story of two very different brothers: Jannik (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) is a drunken loser who has just been released from prison for bank robbery and assault, while Michael (Ulrich Thomsen) is a well-respected army major and family man, with a wife, Sarah (Nielsen), and two kids. But when Michael goes off on a mission to Afghanistan to rescue a captured radar man, his helicopter is shot down and he is assumed to have been killed in action. The news devastates Sarah and her in-laws, while Jannik becomes more reckless before stepping in to help her and the kids build a new life. But as Jannik and Sarah grow close, it is discovered that Michael has survived--and has done something that haunts him and threatens everything and everyone. Bier's film is filled with tender moments as well as bitter, frightening, fast-paced scenes that are hard to forget. Nielsen is a standout as Sarah, who tries to balance love and loss and then love again with a man she's not sure she knows anymore. [More]

Starring: Connie Nielsen, Ulrich Thomsen, Nicolaj Lie Kass, Lene Maria Christensen

Starring: Connie Nielsen, Ulrich Thomsen, Nicolaj Lie Kass, Lene Maria Christensen, Andre Babikian, Laura Bro, Lars Hjortshoj, Niels Olsen, Rebecca Logstrup Saltau, Sarah Juel Werner

Director: Susanne Bier

Director: Susanne Bier
Screenwriter: Anders Thomas Jensen
Story: Susanne Bier, Anders Thomas Jensen
Producer: Sisse Graum Jorgensen
Composer: Johan Soderqvist
Studio: IFC Films

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Reviews for Brothers

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61 - 80 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Accomplishes the rare feat of believably incorporating violence in another part of the world into an intimate study of shifting domestic relationships.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
05/11/05
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly

Bier lets the viewer feel every ounce of the emotional pain.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
05/10/05
David Cornelius
David Cornelius
eFilmCritic.com

A tragedy affects a family in this taut tale.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
05/10/05
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

This is a tight, tense and extremely well-acted film, with no easy answers and an ending that felt was just right.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
05/09/05
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper

An appropriately uneasy blend of graphic military drama and tender romance, Brothers pulls no punches even as its worst violence occurs offscreen.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
05/06/05
Elizabeth Weitzman
Elizabeth Weitzman
New York Daily News

This is perhaps the most moving and eloquent film of life on the home front since Coming Home.

Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | comment Comment
05/06/05
Kent Turner
Kent Turner
Film-Forward.com

Well positioned on that slippery cliff called melodrama, Susanne Bier's grainy, intimate, almost claustrophobic family drama, Brothers, keeps its footing, never falling into the deep chasm of Soap Opera.

Full Review Source: Reel.com | comment Comment
05/06/05
Kim Morgan
Kim Morgan
Reel.com

A meticulous, nuanced, hugely powerful drama about an already splintered family thrown into chaos by a seeming tragedy.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
05/06/05
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Director Susanne Bier avoids cliches as she studies the shifting family dynamic.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/06/05
V.A. Musetto
V.A. Musetto
New York Post

Bier tries to give us bleeding humanity on a plate; the result is unpalatable.

Full Review Source: About.com | comment Comment
05/06/05
Marcy Dermansky
Marcy Dermansky
About.com

This Danish drama of guilt, displacement and brotherly love is all the better for its understatement.

Full Review Source: Movie Gazette | comment Comment
05/06/05
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Movie Gazette

A powerhouse drama that puts us through a wringer of emotions.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
05/05/05
Jan Stuart
Jan Stuart
Newsday

While its focus is domestic drama, the film doesn't shy away from harsh scenes of wartime violence.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
05/05/05
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Danish filmmaker Suzanne Bier's gripping psychological drama is her second film to examine events worthy of Greek tragedy through a contemporary therapeutic lens.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/05/05
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The deficiencies of Brothers lie in its wholesale adoption of war film clichés and obvious plotting.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
05/05/05
Shlomo Schwartzberg
Shlomo Schwartzberg
Boxoffice Magazine

This story might have been a standard melodrama in less gifted hands, but Bier uses a leisurely pace and subtly stylized camera work to make it an intelligent, deeply moving exploration of social and individual ethics.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
05/05/05
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

Brothers emerges as no less or more than Bier's claustrophobic compositions and unimaginative choices.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
05/03/05
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice

Explores the primal emotions of sibling rivalry and the toxins of violence in those returning home from war zones.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
04/28/05
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Every plot point follows a soapy and well-worn path, but the characters speak to each other as if they've known each other their entire lives.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
04/11/05
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine

Again shows what skilled artists can do with a story that might have ended up filled with cliches.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/02/05
Gunnar Rehlin
Gunnar Rehlin
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
61 - 80 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 >> >|
all

Latest News for Brothers

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