As we looked back at 2018, each of the Mercury’s movie critics decided to highlight just one of our favorite movies of the year—movies that might not get as many awards or eyes as the most talked-about or financially successful films of the year, but movies that are still very much worth watching and rewatching.
If 2018 taught us anything, it’s that nobody knows what the fuck they’re doing. But amid the deaths of climate change, the stings of tear gas, and the shadows of fascism, one way to stay sane slowly became clear: You do the best you can in an uncaring and chaotic world. You pay attention to the people that you care about the most, and you spend time and energy to make their lives better in the same way they make your life better. You keep going, even when things are awful, and even when things start to look a little bit better for just a second, and even when things get awful again. And sometimes you drink. Based on Patrick DeWitt’s novel, The Sisters Brothers stars John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix as Eli and Charlie Sisters, who ride and swig and shoot their way across the West, bickering as they get paid to do terrible things. With each misadventure comes a reminder: This world has always been a goddamn mess, and sometimes a bear attacks your horse. Sometimes you find gold. Sometimes you get tricked. Sometimes people shoot you and sometimes you shoot people. Sometimes you meet a mad scientist. Sometimes you rediscover a place you thought you’d lost, and sometimes you can share that place and that feeling with the people you care about the most. The Sisters Brothers is hilarious and surreal and acidicly sweet, and as Eli and Charlie tumble and stagger through it, they rarely know what the fuck they’re doing—but in an uncaring and chaotic world, they do their best. This fine motion picture also includes a scene in which John C. Reilly pukes up hundreds of tiny baby spiders. (dir. Jacques Audiard, home release forthcoming)
Read more of the Mercury’s award-winning* movies and TV coverage! For movie times, click here.
*Not actually award-winning
