Sisters (2006) starring Chloë Sevigny, Stephen Rea, Lou Doillon, Dallas Roberts, JR Bourne, William B. Davis, Gabrielle Rose directed by Douglas Buck Movie Review

Sisters (2006)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Chloë Sevigny in Sisters (2006)

The Weaker Sisters

Before watching "Sisters" I looked for some info on it because I noticed Brian De Palma's name in amongst the writers or as I found out it was a remake of an earlier Brian De Palma movie. Now unsurprisingly I read a few opinions which ridiculed it for being a poor remake, it is what you expect when ever a movie is remade but I thought maybe for those who have never watched the original it will be okay. Turns out this remake of "Sisters" is as bad as everyone makes out as whilst it has some mystery it certainly isn't thrilling and certainly doesn't have any style and the lack of those two makes it uninteresting despite starring Chloë Sevigny and Stephen Rea.

Having helped out at a children's party at the clinic of Dr. Philip Lacan (Stephen Rea - Tara Road) young doctor Dylan Wallace (Dallas Roberts) drives Lacan's assistant Angelique Tristiana (Lou Doillon) to her apartment where he learns she has a twin. The next morning having made love to Angelique Wallace heads out to buy cake for them. Meanwhile reporter Grace Collier (Chloë Sevigny - Shattered Glass) breaks in to Lacan's office as she seeks information and uncovers the surveillance cameras he has all over Angelique's home and as she watches Wallace return and be murdered. With the help of an investigator she seeks out the truth of what is going on.

Stephen Rea in Sisters (2006)

So in fairness "Sisters" has a storyline with a mystery; we have the mystery of what is going on at Lacan's clinic, the mystery of all the twins, the mystery of the murder cover up and the mystery why reporter Grace Collier is snooping around. But that mystery ends up uninteresting because there is no atmosphere what so ever, no dread, no fear, no excitement which makes it very flat. For example the scene where Grace witnesses Dr. Wallace being murdered via CCTV should be a powerful scene but here it plays out as just another scene with no power to it at all.

This lack of atmosphere has the knock on effect of making the characters flat and so when ever we see Lacan we never get a real sense of danger, yes we know he has some sort of secret but are we afraid, never. In many ways that is the movies biggest sin is in Chloë Sevigny and Stephen Rea it has two talented stars but never gives them the script to thrive off of.

But then there is also the problem of absolutely no style and it is because director Douglas Buck delivers unimaginative framing and ordinary camera movement that it all adds up being uninteresting.

What this all boils down to is what this 2006 version of "Sisters" is to be blunt tedious and for a thriller it has only one of the ingredients needed to work and that is mystery.


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