'Father Mother Sister Brother' shows Jim Jarmusch at his best - and his weakest
Adam Driver, left, and Mayim Bialik in a scene from "Father Mother Sister Brother." (Frederick Elmes)
The inescapable, undeniable weakness of "Father Mother Sister Brother" is that, while its first part is thoroughly satisfying, its second part is just OK, and its third part is close to a waste of time.
Writer-director Jim Jarmusch needed to hit a homerun in that last segment, and instead he did the movie equivalent of striking out while trying to bunt.
The good news is that, at 72, Jarmusch ("Stranger Than Paradise," "Night on Earth," "Broken Flowers") continues to make Jim Jarmusch movies. This is important, because nobody else does, or can. At his best - and the first segment of "Father Mother Sister Brother" represents Jarmusch at his best - he observes aspects of human alienation from a vantage point that combines irony, sympathy and longing with his own distinct sense of mysticism.
With Jarmusch, the story is often told through the silences between lines of dialogue. But his filmography has been a mixed bag, because those silences have impact only if there are powerful emotional and power dynamics filling those silences. In "Father Mother Sister Brother," that's not always the case.
The film, which won the Golden Lion at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, is really three short films, each set in a different place and featuring different characters. The only significant connection between them is that the segments all deal with the subject of parents and their adult children.
Tom Waits in "Father Mother Sister Brother." (Atsushi Nishijima)
In the first section, a brother (Adam Driver) and sister (Mayim Bialik) are in a car heading to see their father, an elderly widower (Tom Waits). Take note of their conversation, and you'll appreciate how much information Jarmusch conveys without words.
For example, we know without being told that the brother and sister feel guilty for neglecting the old man. We can tell that the son is a soft touch when it comes to giving money to his father and that the sister isn't. We also can tell that the sister is a trifle jealous of dad's favoring her brother over her.
The unspoken information continues after the two arrive at their father's house. We can tell that they feel uncomfortable telling the father that they can't stay for dinner, because of course they can. They just don't want to. Likewise, we can see through Waits' veneer of obsequious gratitude, and we understand that he picks up on every suppressed thought flying through and hovering over that room. As played by Waits in the movie's most shrewd performance, the father knows his kids better than they know him.
Charlotte Rampling, left, Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps in "Father Mother Sister Brother." (Yorick Le Saux)
The dynamic in the second story is not nearly so complex, but it's just interesting enough. Charlotte Rampling is a successful novelist and the mother of two daughters, the elder played by Cate Blanchett and the younger by Vicky Krieps. The film takes place on the day of their annual tea. Though they all live in Dublin, Ireland, they apparently get together only once a year.
The mother is indifferent to her role as mother. The elder daughter feels unloved. The younger daughter feels like a failure and lies to make herself seem prosperous. All this seems to have the beginnings of drama, but none of these elements are ever quite developed, neither thematically nor theatrically. Still, even if it goes nowhere, this segment is interesting enough to watch.
It's not until the third segment that "Father Mother Sister Brother" starts to feel flimsy and slapdash.
Luke Sabbat, left, and Indya Moore in "Father Mother Sister Brother." (Carole Bethuel)
Following the deaths of their parents in a plane crash, a pair of fraternal twins (Luke Sabbat and Indya Moore) go to clean out the family apartment. The twins look at old photos and talk about their memories. They get along well and no one bothers them, a bonding experience that might be lovely to have but is dull to watch on screen.
Families create their own unique worlds, and when we get older, our siblings are there to corroborate our stories, to testify to the weird realities we've mutually witnessed. Jarmusch knows the importance of these sibling relationships, but it's one thing to know it and feel it and quite another to be able to turn that emotional understanding into compelling narrative art.
Here, he only succeeds halfway.
Mick LaSalle is the film critic emeritus of the Chronicle. Email: [email protected]
More Information
"Father Mother Sister Brother": Drama. Starring Adam Driver, Tom Waits, Cate Blanchett and Charlotte Rampling. Directed by Jim Jarmusch. (R. 115 minutes.) In select Bay Area theaters Friday, Jan. 9.
