Let me say this from the start, I have a love/hate relationship with director Jim Jarmusch. He has, simultaneously, had me enthralled and baffled. Sometimes this happens within the same film, for good or ill. He has a tendency for just barely tying his loose plot threads up. However, they keep fraying at times despite his best efforts well before the credits roll. Jarmusch’s typical hipper-than-thou attitude can make general audiences less inclined to venture through his filmography. Even after watching his latest, Father Mother Sister Brother, I am still not sure how this one ranks among his others.
This one, streaming on Mubi, isn’t like his more cohesive films like Dead Man or Ghost Dog. Those has a clear beginning, middle and end to them. No, this one is more in line with his other vignette films like Mystery Train and Coffee and Cigarettes. The latter of which being the better template. In the first segment “Father,” we are introduced to Tom Waits as an older man living off the beaten path in squalor. His progeny, played wonderfully by Mayim Bialik and Adam Driver, are driving to visit him and don’t know what is in store. The usual languid pace and matter of fact dialog you would find in other Jarmusch features are present. However, I made the mistake of watching this later at night and almost dozed off from the lethargy. It would seem as even the director felt this was evident on set as it took a scene with an ax to liven up the proceedings. There is a slight humorous ending, one you would find more chuckling at than guffawing.
Mother seemed more reminiscent of one short from Coffee and Cigarettes in which twins chat over tea. This sequence even has Cate Blanchett going meet her ne’er-do-well sister played by Vicky Krieps. The destination: their matriarch’s home. Charlotte Rampling steals the show with her icy remove. As the part begins, we overhear a conversation she has on the phone where she admits to not liking these visits much. As an actual piece of conversation, “Well…shall I be Mother?” “Gotta start sometime.” It becomes blatant Jarmusch’s indictment of parents and their attitudes toward their adult children.
Some overhead shots of preset tables reminded me of scenes from his previous films. But there it served to show a character’s emotional state as one great part of Coffee and Cigarettes where magazines display a growing tension. Here it is just looks like he is admiring the China to no great end.
Wild preoccupations take up large swaths of this film. Characters point out others wearing fancy Rolexes with no hidden meaning, just a loose way to tie the segments together. Slow-motion shots of teenagers on skateboards stitched in, with no rhyme or reason for them. You get the impression Jim lost the plot of his own movie here. When his characters prattled on about Elvis in Mystery Train, it made sense since the film took place in Memphis.
The last part, Sister Brother, is the perfect case of saving the best for last. Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat are siblings in Paris trying to understand their parents after their untimely death. They sit over coffee and remanence over their childhoods. This was the first time in the whole film that the people we followed felt lived in. As the story meanders, I wanted to see more of these two.
In many ways, you can see these as stories in a collection you would find in your local bookstore. You would pick them up and read them, take in the descriptions and soak in the drama. One wonders if Jarmusch would make a better novelist than a filmmaker. He manages to stumble onto profundity at times, but I am at a loss as what he is trying to do here. I invite to check out the other movies I mentioned on HBO Max or another, Only Lovers Left Alive on Tubi. If you are looking for a chill night in, seek ‘em out daddy-o.
