A Look at: Josh Collins' "Sibling" movies

Family dynamics from all walks of life have always been a key to Josh Collins movies, particularly in a dramatic standpoint. He's often credited for featuring families in peril and just when you think you've seen enough, he'll add a twist here and there to freshen it up a bit. This freshness in his films particularly has been included in what he calls "sibling" movies: movies with main character siblings.

Original Colonies is his latest venture into the concept. A road trip film with 20-something siblings who are still young enough to be stupid and irresponsible and confused about what they want or need in life. Jesse Eisenberg(Social Network/Zombieland) and the slightly new and very beautiful Mia Wasikowska(Alice in Wonderland/Kids Are Alright) are the roommate siblings who both can't stand each other but also can't live without the other. Forced to raise themselves when their parents had no time for them, bitterness within the siblings were raised more when Jesse was old enough to move out on his own and his sister was still too young to be on her own.

You've found out lots about the story over the last few weeks: mysterious baby gets left on Jesse's doorstep and he believes the mother of the baby could be living in one of the original colonies of America he visited with friends a little over nine months before. He had a bet that he could sleep with at least one woman from each of the colonies. This mystery must go unsolved because it totally inconveniences Jesse's life so he must track down this mother in the hopes of returning the baby.

As we travel to these colonies with the siblings, we hit several road blocks like getting towed away (with the baby in Jesse's car no less) and the even crazier women we meet who Jesse hooked up with on his venture. Those are usually the funniest moments of the film, but there are plenty of dramatic moments in films when we're brought in to relate with the characters: in a drunken bar rant, Mia tells Jesse how much of a fuck up she is in her life, but it only adds to the inner realization that he too is a fuck up.

Original Colonies brings back the direction and writing pair Noah Baumbach and Josh Collins, who wrote the acclaimed sleeper dramedy: Lyra about a teenager coming to terms with the realization that she is a lesbian and the effects it has on her friends, family and her own life. Jena Malone had the starring role in that feature and won the GMA for her portrayal. She will be teamed up again with Noah and Josh in a supporting role as one of Jesse's crazy lovers. The film has a similar production feel to Lyra and we hope it brings in some more well deserved acclaim to CMP studio.


Now with the release of Original Colonies coming up soon, we shall take a look back at sibling movies of Josh Collins past.


THE FANTASTIC MANSION: Josh Collins' first pairing of young Hollywood powerful actresses Abigail Breslin and Dakota Fanning, the girls scored a nomination for best starring couple. Fantastic Mansion holds a certain charm you don't get to experience in many kiddie fantasy films anymore. A brilliant nod to the 70s-80s kid-appropriate fantasy films, Fantastic Mansion was a film about two orphan sisters who live with their rich uncle and find a secret passage that takes them through multiple new worlds. The film sprouted a sequel: Fantastic Island which like most sequels didn't live up to the quality of its predecessor.

THE PITIFUL PLIGHT OF TOM COLLINS: Based on a true story and also gathered a supporting actress nod, Pitiful Plight was about the life of a once proud man and ending it as a sorry shallow shell of what he once was. The siblings in this film are his grown daughters, all with their own point of views on their father.

THE ORPHAN TRAIN: Still regarded as one of Josh Collins' best, this too was based on a true story on Orphan Trains in America. Chase Ellison and Elle Fanning starred here as the sibling pair: orphans who are split up from each other and put on opposite ends of the country. While Elle holds on to the faith that her brother will come back to him, Chase also holds onto that hope while being treated badly by his adoptive parents who treat him as their slave more than their child. He escapes and goes cross country to find his young sis. Just as both are about to lose that hope, they do find each other in one of the most memorable endings of CMP: no words exchanged between the actors as they see each other for the first time since being split up. Elle's fantastic acting earned her a leading role in The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, also written by Josh and Chase was featured before in Dare to be Perfect, also a Collins film. The film was well received by critics and box office but GMA voters ignored it.

PRISON LETTERS: The reuniting of Dakota and Abigail showed they still have it while acting together. This time as teens and this time as sisters who just can't stand each other: so much that Dakota goes so far as to threaten to choke Abigail out if she exposed her bad ways to their parents. Abigail forms a friendship with a prison inmate through a penpal program and she ends up being that deciding factor of Dakota's change when she is killed off. The film earned great critical reception and a few GMA nods.