Falling for Tommy Cahill, with thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal

Greetings from WDW - and I mean that in more ways than one. Due to bad wind - the Gulf Stream's and not anyone else's - my plane didn't exactly rush across the pond. Nevertheless, at the end of a 24 hour day of being awake, I did get to see Brothers last night. If you were there you might have recognised me - I was the one sobbing into her hanky every time Jake Gyllenhaal was on screen. It was a very large screen, I was in row 4 - Jake loomed. And in a good way.


I realise that many people will be seeing Brothers over the coming days, weeks and even months. Therefore, I'll keep my thoughts on the film very brief here and do a longer review later on 'The Other Site', for anyone who's interested and also wants to chat with spoilers. But I will say that I encountered that perennial problem when seeing a Jake movie for the first time - removing that Gyllenhaalic hat is not easy, maybe it's impossible, and objectivity is elusive. But listening to the laughs, sighs and gasps that came from other members of the audience at almost everything Tommy said and did in Brothers demonstrates to me that you don't need to be wearing this hat to see that Jake has done something very special with this role of Tommy Cahill.


While it is debatable that Jake made Tommy too lovable, it isn't something I would complain about. Jake dominated his scenes, not just with what he said, but with expressions, body language and his sheer physicality. His ways of trying to make things right for Grace and her children rang so true and his love for his brother, perhaps the person Tommy is closest to in the world, is never in doubt.


I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Tobey Maguire in Brothers and even more so by how much I liked his character of Sam. Some scenes are hard to watch and they looked like they were painful to do. Natalie Portman has most definitely grown up and I don't think the trailers do her justice.


My favourite scenes were those between Jake and the children - I think I could watch Jake skate and snowball fight for hours. I've been trying to think of a word to describe Tommy when he's with the children apart from 'adorable' and 'sweet' - I've not found one yet. Both girls were wonderful and made their characters complex, especially Bailee Madison - and, for me, the little one, Taylor Geare, was simply perfect. I must do a shout out for Carey Mulligan - she is a fine actress and her scene with Natalie was one of the best of the film for me (even though it didn't have Jake in it - see, I can be impartial...).


Brothers was funnier than I thought it would be - mostly because of Tommy (the bar scene is most definitely one to rewatch). All three main characters were much more likeable than I'd expected. Everyone succeeded in making me care deeply for all three. Sam's journey is more believable and more painful to watch than I thought it would be. There was just one thing about Brothers that disappointed me - the use of music. This may be because all of my senses were overwhelmed so, next time I see it, I'll try and redirect my ears on occasion.

Finally, I saw big posters for Brothers and the Prince of Persia - this is a novelty for me. I heard a girl near me say 'Ooh! Prince of Persia! Cool!'. What it actually sounded like was 'Ooh! Jake Gyllenhaal! Hot!'


This post is illustrated with pictures from the Variety Screening Q&A of Brothers at Arclight, LA, on 3 December. The good news is that Variety usually puts up videos of these so stay tuned. Thanks to IHJ and Variety for the lovely pictures.