After decades in the biz, writer/director Jim Jarmusch is still a master of deadpan dialogue. But over the years, he has become more mature and more skilled at listening to the spaces between words, and finding profound emotions. Like Night on Earth and Coffee and Cigarettes, Father Mother Sister Brother is an anthology, consisting of three stories (although even Jarmusch's features typically consist of sections, rather than scenes).
In the first, siblings Jeff (Adam Driver) and Emily (Mayim Bialik) drive to see their father. They worry about his financial situation. Meanwhile, the father (Tom Waits) is disguising his apartment, adding fresh clutter to the living room. Then, two sisters travel for an annual afternoon tea with their mother (Charlotte Rampling). Timothea (Cate Blanchett) has a brief car breakdown, but manages to get going again. Lilith (Vicky Krieps) pretends that her romantic partner Jeanette (Sarah Greene) is her Uber driver. The tea goes awkwardly, with the daughters trying to update the mother on their lives. Finally, twins Skye (Indya Moore) and Billy (Luka Sabbat) stop to pick up some drugs for Billy, and then they head to their parents' house, now empty after their deaths. They look through some odd things and share memories, perhaps never realizing who their parents actually were.
That theme (and a Rolex watch) runs through all three stories, that question of: just who are these people who had us and raised us? Why can't we communicate? Why does communication grow more difficult over time (re: the watch)? I think Father Mother Sister Brother is one of Jarmusch's greatest films, sporting just a whiff of his hero, Yasujiro Ozu, in its themes and settings. MUBI's Blu-ray release includes only optional subtitles. Highly Recommended.
