The Devil and the Daylong Brothers
Directed by Brandon McCormick
Written by Brandon McCormick and Nicholas Kirk (Songs)
Starring Brendan Bradley, Nican Robinson, Jordon Bolden, & Rainey Qualley
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hour and 52 minutes
In theaters and digital January 31

by "Doc" Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Director

The Devil and the Daylong Brothers is a very unique creature. A southern gothic, supernatural road trip action movie with a very specific internal mythology and buckets full of violence. All wrapped in a polished, stylish sheen that makes it very approachable. On top of that, it's a musical. As I watched this flick, I kept returning to the feeling that it would make an excellent jumping-off point for a tv series. And, despite what the nagging voice in the back of my head kept repeatedly saying, there's nothing wrong with that.

TV has steadily closed the respectability gap since at least the 1990s, followed by what would become known as "prestige TV" with shows like HBO’s The Sopranos (1999-2007), AMC’s Mad Men (2007-2015), and many others. Where once comparing a film to television would be seen as a massive insult, now it actually depends on the context. When I tell you that The Devil and the Daylong Brothers feels like prestige TV, please understand I mean that in the best ways.

Titular brothers Ishmael, Enoch, and Abraham, (Brendan Bradley, Nican Robinson, and Jordon Bolden respectively) as they explain in the opening musical number, have different mothers, but the same father, who sold THEIR souls to the Devil for personal gains, then disappeared. Now they work, in a roundabout way, for the Devil, collecting on the souls of people who made deals like their father did. They hope, of course, to eventually have to collect their own father's soul-debt so they can finally locate him and have a long-awaited face-to-face.

And remember, on top of that, occasionally they sing. It's a wild ride.

Yet somehow, it all works. Everything feels like it belongs. The songs all work towards expanding a character's point of view or their current emotional state, and they're good; catchy, hummable. They have a pop sensibility which is carried over into the filmmaking itself.

The brothers are introduced via song in a bar scene. Each one gets a verse and a moment. Their character names appear on screen in a brief, animated flourish. This is how the film opens: a bit like a TV series, and mentally I was off to the races. I couldn't stop thinking of shows that this reminded me of: a little bit of AMC's Preacher (2016-2019), a dash of WB's Supernatural (2006-2020), and a healthy dollop of ABC's Cop Rock (1990) on top.

The brothers have a fun interpersonal dynamic on top of the usual push and pull of siblings. Enoch, for instance, is a bit more into violent retribution and relies on his brothers to curb these tendencies, Abe is the trio's bleeding heart who relies on his brothers to draw him out of himself from time to time. Ish is the only one "allowed" to drive their 1958 Chrysler Imperial named Grace-- and yes, she gets a credit too. They're caricatures initially, drawn in broad strokes that match the pseudo-wild west vibes of being able to walk into a bar, execute a man, and carve a piece of his flesh off as proof that his debt has been paid. But over the course of the film, they come into finer detail.

The performances help make them feel more well-rounded of course. Enoch feels the most like the traditional western protagonist. He’s a man of deeds more than words with Robison's looming physicality adding to his menace. As Abe, Bolden feels like the wild card, his expressive eyes selling Abe's emotional volatility. For my money, Bradley's performance as Ish is the stand-out. His "Texas Whistle" accent and kooky performance reminded me of an old, sun-addled prospector, which is a character one doesn't often see on a quest for righteous vengeance.

I won't pretend that the whole thing worked for me. There's an odd diversion to include the character of Frankie (a pleasantly vampy Rainey Qualley) that seems intended to add some backstory, but felt like it only slowed things down and added an unnecessary complication. Qualley isn't the problem at all, and the character of Frankie is interesting and reasonably well-rounded, I just don't understand her inclusion in this version of the script. It feels like some bit of connective tissue was excised somewhere along the way.

That aside, The Devil and the Daylong Brothers is a really pleasant experience. Strong and earnest performances, fun diversions into song, an exciting world with strong roots in folklore, and a really slick stylistic polish. For as many disparate elements as writer/director Brandon McCormick throws in, the finished product is remarkably digestible.

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