In this week’s Sunday night movie on M-Net, Owen Wilson and Ed Helms play a pair of brothers set on finding dear old dad. In the spirit of sisters, brothers, and all things sibling, we’re looking at five other films centring on this special family tie.
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
Most sibling relations are fraught with more than a little tension, especially when you’re both teenagers! And Jeanie Bueller is not impressed that her brother Ferris has skipped school, after successfully fooling everyone (except her!) into believing he’s sick. It takes a cool-calm-and-delinquent Charlie Sheen to make Jeanie realise she needs to worry more about her own life than whatever trouble her brother is or isn’t getting into.
The Chronicles of Narnia
Some kids take a day off school, others step through a wardrobe into a magical world. That’s precisely what happens to the Pevensie siblings – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy – in this lovingly faithful adaptation of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The siblings soon learn there’s no time for family feuds in a land filled with icy threats and sweet deceits. Their escapades in Narnia were followed by more adventure in the follow-up film, Prince Caspian. And in the third film based on the classic fantasy books, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the fantastical capers involve Edmund and Lucy, as well as their cousin, Eustace Scrubb, making it a true family affair.
Rain Man
Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman are in fine form as brothers in this Barry Levinson-directed family film. When his father passes away, Cruise’s Charlie Babbit inherits his Buick Roadmaster, and learns he has an older brother. Raymond is an autistic savant, lives in a mental institution, and has inherited the bulk of his father’s estate. In an attempt to wrest control of the money, Charlie whisks Raymond away on a cross-country road trip. Creating memorable movie moments, and winning four Oscars along the way, Charlie remembers his previous connection to his brother and seeks to forge new ties.
The Royal Tenenbaums
The star of your Sunday night movie, Owen Wilson, is clearly fond of family-matter movies. In Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited he plays one of three brothers, and although he doesn’t form part of the title family in The Royal Tenenbaums, he does co-star alongside real-life brother Luke Wilson. The Royal Tenenbaums is filled with Anderson’s signature quirks, as well as soon-to-be cast regulars Bill Murray and Anjelica Huston.
The Virgin Suicides
Francis Ford Coppola kept it in the family when he cast his daughter Sofia in The Godfather: Part III. She soon followed in her father’s footsteps by turning to directing, making her feature film debut with The Virgin Suicides. Dark yet poignant, it follows the tragic tale of five sisters whose lives in suburban Michigan are tightly controlled by their overprotective parents. Based on the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, it garnered praise for Sofia Coppola, paving the way for an illustrious career behind the camera.
Laugh along with Owen Wilson and Ed Helms as two brothers in Father Figures, your #SundayNightMovie on 10 February at 20:05 on M-Net channel 101.
Originally published on M-Net.
Photo by Annie Spratt.