Father Mother Sister Brother film review: Family ties
A trio of familial tales from indie king Jim Jarmusch
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With Father Mother Sister Brother, the beloved American indie director Jim Jarmusch returns to the anthology format of some of his most fondly recalled features, with 1991’s globe-hopping Night On Earth a particular reference point. Eschewing the comic horrors of recent efforts The Dead Don’t Die and Only Lovers Left Alive, Jarmusch is in firmly relatable territory for this trio of funny, family-orientated tales, which reunite him with Adam Driver and old favourite Tom Waits.
We begin as a pair of nerdy, upstanding and socially ill-at-ease siblings (Driver’s Jeff and Mayim Bialik’s Emily) visit their more dishevelled, anti-establishment and disorganised dad (played by Waits) out in ‘Nowheresville’, USA. Amid some stilted chit-chat, there’s suspicion about what might have happened to the large sums of money that Jeff has forked out for his father’s house repairs, although nothing is explicitly said.
The second story centres around Charlotte Rampling’s well-to-do, Dublin-based romance author, who is hosting her own adult children (Cate Blanchett’s shy and prim Timothea and Vicky Krieps’ punky Lilith). What unfolds is a polite and meticulously presented but distinctly uncomfortable afternoon tea (a ritual that has become something of a family tradition) during which insecure ‘influencer’ Lilith tells a number of obvious lies.
And finally, we’re introduced to uber-cool twentysomething twins Skye and Billy (Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat) who share a special connection and are reunited in Paris following the death of their parents in a plane crash. The pair visit their parents’ now empty apartment and pore over some precious belongings, sharing memories from their upbringing, both good and bad.
There are common threads and phrases which tie the trio of stories together, including the very British expression ‘Bob’s your uncle’, and discussion of which drinks can and can’t be raised in a toast. The film is full of wittily relayed, well-identified social observations: about sibling bonds and rivalries; the way we judge our parents and they judge us; the way we crave their attention, then they crave ours; and how we fool and disappoint each other.
As is common in this type of filmmaking, some episodes are more successful than others. The third vignette ‘Sister Brother’ takes a shift towards the more overtly emotional as it suggests that, whatever our issues with our parents (many of which Jarmusch identifies here), most of us will miss them when they are gone. It never quite feels true to the devastating nature of the scenario in question, but it’s touching nevertheless, and Moore and Sabbat make convincingly connected twins.
Pure, undemanding pleasure for the most part, Father Mother Sister Brother is gently presented and impeccably performed, making a virtue of its simple, domestic settings and awkward interactions. Featuring a range of personalities and nationalities but emphasising the universality of certain aspects of family dynamics, it’s the sort of film where everyone will have something at which they’ll smile in recognition.
Father Mother Sister Brother is in cinemas from Friday 10 April.