Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother Is a Reflection of the Human Spirit and Family Emotions: NYFF Review

Families are complicated, as they are the first people who shape our identity, passions, and relationships with others. Within the fighting and the chaos is love, growth, and acceptance, and Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother perfectly showcases the many nuances of sibling love and how their parents shaped their dynamic.

Told as an anthology, Jarmusch focuses on three vastly different stories that all tackle loss, reflection, and independence. Unlike other movies about families, Father Mother Sister Brother is a quiet telling, where chaos is slow burning, where a majority of feelings are shown in the actors’ faces instead of loud conversations. Both funny and pensive, the plethora of talented actors fit into their respective stories perfectly, with all giving a standout performance.

The movie opens with Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik as brother and sister, who have reached a moment in the relationship when they no longer understand each other, if they ever did. They are forced to join forces after they question their sweet aging father’s mental facilities. Played by Tom Waits, he is a gentle father who surrounds himself with antics, is always ready to serve tea, and might have memory issues, but isn’t that normal for a man his age? The issue with their relationship is that they never really understood each other, and as a result, their life choices baffle each other, which is a perfect crack their dad gets to explore. What we know about this family is what they are willing to share with each other (which isn’t a lot) that makes for a hilarious plot twist about aging and ageism. Waits is a delight to watch as he transforms in and out of who his children think he is compared to who he really is. He bounces around with eternal joy as the absentminded siblings fail to catch on.

In our second story, we watch Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps play polar opposite sisters who join their mother Charlotte Rampling for afternoon tea in Dublin, a yearly event arranged by their mother’s therapist. The two sisters are vastly different; Blanchett is a quite mannerable (often times bland) heritage council worker who fights to have a voice in their interactions, while Krieps is a loud and demanding free-spirited lesbian who is hiding her sexual identity from her mother. Both sisters play off their internal and external struggles with each other with polite, stifled conversations about the nothingness of life until their hidden resentment slowly turns passive-aggressive. The sisters’ lack of understanding and emotionally stunted growth by their mother’s doing is complicated, and because neither person refuses to get to the core of their issues, much of their dialogue is left unwritten. All three actors expertly craft their intentions and thoughts through glances, making their meeting uncomfortable for everyone. Will someone finally explode, or is their abrupt ending reflective of their learned behavior?

To cool down the temperature, our last story focuses on twins (Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat) who, after the death of their parents, must reunite in Paris to clean out their parents’ home. In this bittersweet telling, they spent their time learning about their parents via their belongings, collections of various art and photos. Going through these possessions fills them with regret and loneliness as they realise they never really knew them. Always off on an adventure, they both died in a plane crash. Instead of anger or bitterness, the twins handle their parents’ death with gentle care and mystery. This chapter is a welcoming slower pace, whose mellowness fills the air. Moore and Sabbat are both inviting and easy-going. They have a deep love, understanding, and respect for each other, and this connection allows for a bond that doesn’t need words to convey. While they didn’t understand their parents, they never judged them. Their deaths bring a sense of nostalgia as they share their memories with others in the backdrop of a city that offers them hope and promise.

Jim Jarmusch’s Father, Mother, Sister, Brother is a touching emotional film that reflects the complications of life and human behavior. While the movie and its characters never set out to understand each other, it focuses on how to deal with each other, even if that means keeping secrets, letting go of regrets, or just being there for each other in the silence. It is both endearing and Jarmusch’smost honest film.