Jim Jarmusch doesn't really 'tell' stories, at least not in any conventional sense. He simply places his characters in front of us for us to observe, listen to what they tell us and sometimes to infer from their silences what they might be thinking. In this sense Jarmusch is the most minimalist of directors and writers. His latest film, "Father Mother Sister Brother" is about family but it's not about the same family. This time he gives us three separate tales linked only by various motifs, here skateboarders, a rolex watch, water, photos of the characters as children and driving; there may be more if you pay close attention.
The first piece is simply called Father, the second Mother and the third Sister Brother. The first, the most accessible and also the funniest, has Tom Waits at his crustiest as a father living very much in the middle of nowhere, (it's New Jersey), visited by his overly generous son, (Adam Driver) and daughter, (Mayim Bialik) and it's clear to us, if not to them, that dad is stringing them along, getting money from Driver for house repairs that don't need doing and spending the money on a rolex, fancy furniture, which he tries to hide, and a new car. This is Jarmusch winking at us but taking his time as he always does and it's a deeply affectionate portrait of estrangement.
In the second piece, set in Dublin, two sisters, (Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps), approaching middle age, make their annual visit to their mother, (Charlotte Rampling), a famous novelist, for afternoon tea. Again very little is said, (the silences between these three seem to go on forever), but it's clear that the sisters don't really relate to each other nor do they get on with their mother and that mother still treats them like children, (neither sister has really 'grown up'). It's also clear that one sister is trying to hide her sexuality from ma who looks like she couldn't care less.
In the third and longest piece a brother and sister in Paris meet up to pay a final visit to their parent's empty apartment after their parents were killed in a private plane crash. Nothing much happens; they reminisce, particularly about the way their parents raised them, leaving them very much it would seem to raise themselves and leaving them, after their deaths, with unpaid debts. This is the most wistful piece, any humor almost accidental, (we keep watching and waiting for the motifs from earlier episodes).
If taken together these three stories seem amongst the the lightest and most inconsequential of Jarmusch films but individually their cumulative effect is quite overwhelming proving that what Jarmusch leaves out can often be much more profound that what he puts in and that sometimes it's really up to his audience to do the work. It's beautifully acted throughout and often very moving and personally I can't wait to see it again.
