Siblings
08/13
Joe & his siblings have a couple of problems. 1st their parents are dispicably evil. 2nd they aappeared to have killed them. Now this mixed-up mess of half-sisters & step-brothers have to figure out how to dispose of the bodies cover up the murders collect their inheritance – all without getting caught. Studio: Monarch Video Assoc. Release Date: 05/22/2007 Run time: 85 minutes
This Canadian film is definitely a black comedy. SIBLINGS tells the story of four youngsters who aren’t really blood relations; they’re all products of their various parents philandering and remarriages; their steparents are “once removed.” Needless to say the stepparents are cold, cruel, self-centered and immediately unlikeable. When the oldest boy (Joseph) neglects to tell them that he has emptied the break fluid in order to replace the pads, and they take off in that same car and are killed, a strange coverup begins. The cast is uniformly very good: Alex Campbell as Joe displays the turmoil of an 18 year old on the verge of manhood, a responsible lad who feels for his siblings; Sarah Gadon exhibits the repressed sexuality as Margaret, who may or may not have been a victim of her stepfather’s sexual desires; google eyed and bespectacled Samantha Weinstein is tragically comic as the youngest girl obsessed with killing her stepparents; and wideyed Andrew Chalmers is charmingly coy as the littlest brother. Sarah Polley, the only “star” in the film, does well as the object of Joseph’s affection and a partner in their complicity. SIBLINGS is refreshingly original in its plot mechanisms and its youthful performers are fine.
This is the synopsis from the back cover of the studio’s screener DVD: Joe and his siblings have a couple of problems. First off, their stepparents are despicably evil. Secondly, they appeared to have killed them. Now this mixed up mess of half-sisters and step-brothers have to figure out how to dispose of the bodies, cover up the murders, collect their grandfather’s inheritance and somehow stick together as a family – all without getting caught. Not to mention the eldest Joe’s obsessive need to keep tabs on his promiscuous sister, an eye on the precocious little ones and a lustful watch on the girl next door. Growing up has its complications. Murder’s just one of them.