Capsule: The Devil and the Daylong Brothers
Sing, You Sinners, and Make It Bluesy
Since it appears we’re all going to hell anyway, how about a musical focusing on three disreputable pieces of white trash who are definitely front-of-line at the gates of Hades? In the DEVIL AND THE DAYLONG BROTHERS, three half-siblings, played by Brendan Bradley, Nican Robinson, and Jordon Bolden, are cutting a bloody swath across the south – Georgia specifically, if I’m reading the license plates right. They’re on a quest for vengeance against their daddy (Keith Carradine), who sold their souls to the devil in exchange for... well, that’s kind-of a plot-spoiler. Not necessarily a big one, but I’m reluctant to drop it here.
On their odyssey, they’ll be wrapping up a side-gig calling in some other debts people have got due to Satan; recruiting, reluctantly, a temptress (Rainey Qualley) who may be able to lead them to their Daddy, or may just be BS’ing them; and singing their hearts out in an impressive series of songs composed by co-writer Nicolas Kirk, who I suspect may have also dubbed some of the actors’ singing voices.
To be blunt about it, this is a lot of bloody, musical fun. Director and co-writer Brandon McCormick is a nimble storyteller, even if I wish the film started off a little earlier in the Daylong’s story (but at a running time of near two hours without much filler, it isn’t as if McCormick had much room to stretch out). There’s great, frequently hilarious chemistry between the actors, the action scenes are nicely staged, and the songs – including an impressive traditional guitar blues sung by composer Kirk himself – help to move the story along. If the narrative isn’t the strongest – there are events that seem to have been introduced purely for convenience’s sake – that’s a minor gripe. THE DEVIL AND THE DAYLONG BROTHERS takes musical fantasy and gives it a unique, sweaty, skeevy charm
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