Movie Review: Father Mother Sister Brother

3.5 stars out of 5

I was initially disappointed learning that this wasn’t a feature length exploration of Richie Cunningham’s fake fraternity, Mama Papa Sister. But I was even more disappointed to discover that this is Jim Jarmusch’s most boring film by a long shot.

Now, I love Jim Jarmusch, going back to his 1980s triumphs Stranger Than Paradise, Down by Law, and Mystery Train (the first movie of his I saw in a theater). And he hasn’t let me down since: Night on Earth, Ghost Dog (loved Ghost Dog!!), Broken Flowers, even the challenging Limits of Control. In the past decade-plus I loved Only Lovers Left Alive, thought Paterson was perfection, and was even delighted by the generally panned zombie comedy The Dead Don’t Die. His movies are cool, stylish, grungey. Saxophones and coffee and cigarettes and darkened streets. Hell, I own the soundtracks to at least four of his flicks.

I certainly don’t mind Jarmusch trying something new, because he always has. But focusing on aging parents of the upper middle class? Leave that to EVERY OTHER WRITER/DIRECTOR OF A CERTAIN AGE, Jim. You’re better than that! (Oops sorry, my caps lock was stuck.)

This is an anthology, like Mystery Train and Night on Earth. The only reason I was sad to find that out: I was looking forward to an entire movie of Tom Waits. (At least memorizing 110 pages of dialogue would be a decent excuse for still not making a new album.) First of three stories is Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik (hey why not) visiting their down-and-out dad Waits. Second is an adorably nerdy Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps (who I thought was superb in Phantom Thread and Hold Me Tight) visiting Charlotte Rampling. And third is I don’t know and I don’t know (I was getting a little sleepy by this point, sorry) visiting their dead parents’ apartment.

We see common themes of estrangement, sibling rivalry, and pretending you’re something that you’re not. These are high-quality actors and Jarmusch puts them in recognizable situations. Wow, I could feel sitting there with grown children Adam and Mayim as the room gets darker and the afternoon gets longer thinking “When can I leave.” There are a few laughs too. It’s not a bad movie; it’s a pretty good movie, but it’s very very talky and not particularly compelling. And for Jarmusch, that’s a letdown. I feel like Jimmy in Quadrophenia finding out Ace Face is now a bellboy. Now that was a cool movie!