Winner of the Golden Lion Best Film prize at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER is the eagerly-awaited new film from iconic filmmaker Jim Jarmusch.
We've seen this and loved it, it's a film that directly shows us how we don't talk with our parents as equals, even when we're all adults. With some wonderful cameo roles, best of all from Tom Waits, it consists of three short films connected by various memes and the overall message.
By turns funny, tender and astutely observed, this is an intimate exploration of the universal intricacies of family dynamics. Starring Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat.
The film is divided into three chapters, each concerning the relationship between adult children, their somewhat distant parent/s, and with each other. Set in rural Northeast America, the first part FATHER sees two adult siblings (Driver and Bialik) spend an awkward afternoon with their reclusive father (Tom Waits), who they are visiting for the first time in years.
In MOTHER, a reunion between a successful novelist (Rampling) and her two daughters (Blanchett and Krieps) for their carefully prepared annual tea party in Dublin becomes increasingly revealing and amusing as a result of all the things that are not being said.
Then to wrap up the story, SISTER BROTHER sees twin siblings (Moore and Sabbat) meet in Paris to seek closure after the recent loss of their parents, making surprising discoveries about how little they actually knew about them in the process, and slowly coming to terms with that.
Funny, poignant and resonant, Jarmusch’s latest elegantly blends excellent performances from its strong ensemble cast. His typically wry and idiosyncratic observations of everyday life serve as a timely reminder that whilst you can choose your friends and your lovers, you never get to choose your family.
