True West

I was finally able to watch this via YouTube, split into 10 segments.  I had a moment of horror when, after completing part 8 of 10,  I couldn't locate parts 9 or 10, but I found them.

This was Malkovich as I've never seen him before...and how I've seen him many times.  By this I mean that his character has the explosive flashes of anger that we have all seen in later characters he has played.  But, this character is different in all other ways.  He is not smooth, manipulative, charming, funny - none of those things.  His speech patterns make me think very much of Lennie, and for a while it was difficult for me to not envision him as "Lennie, if Lennie was a jerk".  

John Malkovich and Gary Sinise are magic together in this.  I can only imagine what it must have been like to see them do this onstage.  

Both their characters are wholly unlikeable much of the time.  Sinise plays Austin, who is a smug, arrogant little prick.  Malkovich plays his brother, Lee, who is a boorish, hateful alcoholic.  I want to smack them both throughout a lot of this.  But at the same time, they both have moments where I feel sorry for them, for different reasons.

There are humorous moments, and I'm still astounded that something where the primary (only) setting is the kitchen of their mother's house could remain interesting start to finish.   There are moments where I felt intensely sad for these two men.  Like, I wanted to adopt Lee, clean him up, and take him to counseling.  Okay, I still pretty much just wanted to kick Austin in the shins, but I felt sorry for him that he had been clearly terrorized by his brother.  And because his jealousy became his driving force and caused him to lose composure so spectacularly.

John Malkovich is phenomenal.  Period.  There is a scene in which Austin has been drinking a lot, and Lee appears to have sobered up at least somewhat, and it was interesting to see their dynamic shift.  

I'm so glad I found this and was able to watch it!  I watched an old JM interview not too long ago, where I believe he said he based the way he played Lee, on his own older brother.  Having now seen True West, I hope he was kidding because Lee was a terror.