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Stars: Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett
Director: Jim Jarmusch
Distributor: MUBI

“Is that a Rolex?”

The return of Jim Jarmusch, and the return of an anthology style Jim Jarmusch film, delivers awkward family charm across three independent scenarios.

At first, Father Mother Sister Brother begins with the awkward car journey between siblings Jeff (Adam Driver) and Emily (Mayim Bialik), on their way to visit their somewhat reclusive Father (Tom Waits). Both the living situation and living environment surrounding Father are beyond questionable for an elderly character living on their own. However, is Father truly as limited or as much living in a detrimental state, as suggested or believed by his kids?

When progressing to the Mother section, Mother (Charlotte Rampling) is organising the chaos with the finest of etiquette – in this instance: annual afternoon tea with her contrasting daughters. Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps are the polar opposites as Timothea and Lilith respectively. Whilst Timothea clearly attempts to adhere to her mother’s liking, Lilith is more of the rebellious kind using her phone at the table.

When the anthology concludes with Sister Brother, we find ourselves in Paris – but not the glamorous version. This version sees siblings Skye and Billy (Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat respectively), come together after the passing of their parents. This chapter sees the siblings exploring their parents’ vacant property and storage holding. Unlike the previous stories, this concluding one offers the tough notion of not being able to catch up, spend time, or reconvene with one’s parents. A scenario where new memories are not established, but instead, old ones revisited.

In this anthology structure, the clearest of bonds and connections between chapters, is that of the awkward delights that family reunions entail. From fraud to etiquette to tragedy, Jarmusch delivers great enjoyment in experiencing the diversity in awkwardness. During the main body of the first story, the relentless ambiance between Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik and Tom Waits establishes enough of a hilarity to encourage a satirical, almost parodical atmosphere in the film. When viewing – everything from the cinematography to dialogue and performance – all has the feeling of comedic purpose. When we proceed to Dublin, Father Mother Sister Brother feels much more defined; tone and cinematography are completely oppositional towards what is seen prior, and in conclusion, the further technical transitions and increase in formal story-telling, the third and final chapter in Paris feels like a completely different film.

With the majority of the beats determined by dialogue, tone and atmosphere, this technical display presents dialogue as action. Throughout the three chapters, there is an abundance of off-beat hilarity within the dialogue, but certainly more so from the beginning, and gradually declining towards the latter end. Of course, the dead pan nature present in multiple performances enables this very entertaining capability – Adam Driver is truly exceptional in this regard.

All in all, Father Mother Sister Brother is a delightful return to anthology filmmaking from Jim Jarmsuch. Though the quality does begin to diminish come the third story, the predictably excellent Cate Blanchett in the middle of this film executes a performance that permanently remains in the viewers mindset up to the conclusion and beyond. From start to finish, Father Mother Sister Brother is effective in providing a variety of comedic dialogue and tones. Perhaps the most significant take-away from this film is that for at least one person, one of the family instances within the three acts, will resonate to a degree with someone out there.