THE STORY – Sisters Jean and Joan Holbrooke are so close to each other that they speak in unison, love the same man, and have the same dreams. They even make the same slip of tongue in unison. We cannot see the world as they see it, but we do see how the world reacts to them – through the courts and the press, through those that want to help and those who want to use them, through the eyes of beasts both tame and wild, and even through their own echoes in the core of the earth.
THE CAST – Kate Mara, Rooney Mara, Orlando Bloom & Domhnall Gleeson
THE TEAM – Werner Herzog (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 109 Minutes
There are some sisters who are close, like finishing each other’s sentences and knowing the other on an almost microscopic level. Then there are sisters like Jean and Joan Holbrooke (Played by real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara), who not only finish each other’s sentences but literally speak in unison and do everything together, including loving the same man and sharing dreams. Because they essentially share the same brain, that means double the trouble for these mischievous, love-obsessed partners in crime in legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog’s wacky “Bucking Fastard.” Seeing the Mara sisters together on screen for the first time as they bring these fascinating siblings to life is a never-ending delight fest, even if the rest of the film has mixed returns.
Jean and Joan are very different from others, given their strong connection, but they also truly live in their own world that, to them, is free of consequences. That’s most apparent with their torrid love affair with their womanizing neighbor Mr. Mulroney (Orlando Bloom). Despite making it clear that he is marrying someone else, they can’t stop yearning for him, chasing after him, or taking things to violent extremes to capture his heart. That ultimately leads to the two women standing trial and giving us plenty of ridiculous situations to laugh at. Their synced speech and behaviors are a sight to behold, especially their naughty giggles at inappropriate times on the witness stand or all the ways they interrupt Mulroney’s cross-examination, including a slip of the tongue as they call Mulroney a “bucking fastard.” The most amusing part is how no one questions their ways and just lets these two be.
The courtroom proceedings and interspersed cuts of the events that led to the trial are the strongest section of this film because Herzog plays up the whimsy, and there’s a constant element of surprise about what they might do next. But once the trial ends and the Holbrookes have essentially been ostracized by society, their neighbor (John Kavanagh) offers them a secluded place to live near a port. It’s here that the story turns more episodic, showing glimpses of their encounters with local weirdos, a peeping Tom, and how they often get in each other’s way by trying to do everything together. They also meet with social worker Timothy (Domhnall Gleeson), who encourages them to be a little more independent of each other, like splitting up duties when it comes to opening up a sardine can or purchasing a train ticket. These vignettes give us more insight into their lives, but the film also becomes a bit scattered and starts to lose any semblance of a plot. One might think the film would keep pushing this notion of them splitting up and gaining independence, but that’s not the case, which makes us question the inclusion of an underutilized Gleeson and his scenes (Although his presence is always welcome in a film).
What never gets old, though, is their dual schtick, and the Mara sisters match the other’s energy perfectly. Even when there are times a viewer might notice slight differences in the performance — Rooney is more subtle with certain expressions while Kate may play up a giggle more — they are an absolute riot to watch. Their casting is why much of this film works as well as it does in the end. Even as the story meanders, you’re still invested because of them, and they often bring you back in as they’re off on some other bizarre conquest.
To say this is an unusual Herzog film is nothing out of the ordinary (It’s also dedicated to the late David Lynch, which says plenty on its own). This is a director who pushed filmmaking and relationship limits with his former collaborator Klaus Kinski in films such as “Fizcarraldo” and “Aguirre, the Wrath of God.” Here, it’s not so much that he’s asking the Maras to do wild things; it’s that the film has interesting ideas at play but doesn’t know how to fully execute them, and what he does do doesn’t always make sense. Something fairly consistent is their desire to be in their own world where no one will judge them. They later head to their aunt’s home, where they meet a longtime resident who tells them about a tunnel in a mountain rumored to lead to Orkney Island. This would be ripe for the film to take a mystical turn and play into the absurdity of it all, but it basically doesn’t (It really is just them digging a tunnel for years, though the visuals inside are quite striking at times). Even when there’s potential for their bond to break, which would connect back to the Timothy storyline, that doesn’t go anywhere either. There’s even a subplot involving a lone fox that very much mirrors the sisters’ lives, but Herzog mainly treats it as a somewhat animal sidekick. Yes, it’s not fair to judge a film for not being a certain type of film, but when there are obvious clues and tie-ins to earlier themes, and it just doesn’t go there, then what’s the point? It ends up being more frustrating and inconsistent than anything else.
“Bucking Fastard” is a letdown in many ways because it’s often too scatterbrained and inconsistent for its own good. While there’s no doubt we get to take in the Holbrooke sisters’ eccentric lives, there isn’t much of a throughline to follow, nor do you know what this is all leading up to. However, the Mara sisters do such great work in the film that you stay invested solely because of their antics.
