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Brothers (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:24
Fresh:22
Rotten:2
Average Rating:7.8/10
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.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for violence, language and brief nudity.
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Genre: Foreign Films
Theatrical Release:May 6, 2005 Limited
Box Office: $245,006
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
A profoundly affecting movie, one in which our sympathies lie with everyone.
Feels like an amalgam of newsreel and stage drama, but with the most potent aspects of both art forms.
Keeps itself floating above the suds thanks to Bier's crisp and lively visual design, the general loveliness of her cast ... and her attention to small moments of arresting domestic authenticity.
Though Brothers is at times unexpectedly harrowing, it is neither a preachy anti-war diatribe nor a triangulated domestic drama, but it does show how even little wars can disrupt the most harmonious families.
This is powerful, intelligent filmmaking filled with emotional resonance.
This is the kind of movie that doesn't solve everything at the end -- that observes some situations are capable not of solution but only of accommodation.
A talented director of ensembles and intimate scenes, Bier again proves herself a powerful, if occasionally overwrought, dramatist.
Has an exact sense of emotional truth and a respect for the intricacy of character.
Accomplishes the rare feat of believably incorporating violence in another part of the world into an intimate study of shifting domestic relationships.
This is a tight, tense and extremely well-acted film, with no easy answers and an ending that felt was just right.
An appropriately uneasy blend of graphic military drama and tender romance, Brothers pulls no punches even as its worst violence occurs offscreen.
A meticulous, nuanced, hugely powerful drama about an already splintered family thrown into chaos by a seeming tragedy.
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| 14% 14% | The Ugly Truth |
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