Parents' Guide to Brothers

Director Jim Sheridan is no stranger to intense family dramas -- the Irish filmmaker (In the Name of the Father, In America) seems like a natural choice to adapt Susanne Bier's affecting Brodre. At first, the three leads (especially Portman) all seem too much younger than their Danish counterparts, but with some obvious visual clues that Portman and Maguire's characters were high-school sweethearts, the characterizations start clicking into place, and each actor rises to the challenge. Portman is luminous as a grief-stricken young "widow," and Gyllenhaal is surprisingly believable as the edgier bad-boy brother trying to make amends. But it's Maguire who has to anchor the emotional intensity, capturing Sam's months of torture and then his return to civilization mostly with bulging eyes, set jaw, and an acidly dropped curse word.

To Americanize Bier's masterful original, screenwriter David Benioff makes Sam and Tommy's father (Sam Shepard) a Vietnam vet, lending even more credibility to the good-son/bad-son dynamic between the brothers. Portman's almost distracting loveliness is also taken into consideration, as it becomes the subject of small talk among Tommy's friends. There's more humor in this version as well, especially in a key scene in which Tommy and Grace bond over a joint and a U2 song. Overall, Sheridan's remake is beautifully acted and, unfortunately, quite timely. But everyone who sees it should, also watch Bier's subtle, harrowing original.