Nobody does an anthology film quite like Jim Jarmusch, and his new film “Father Mother Sister Brother” will see him exploring the intricacies of family relationships over quite a few cups of tea.
Jarmusch has assembled a stable of his favorite collaborators (along with a few new faces) for a triptych about adults navigating their relationships with their aging parents. The three segments were filmed in New Jersey, Dublin, and Paris — a fittingly global choice from a director who has always been fascinated by the ways that multicultural relations shape our smallest interactions. Plot details have been scarce to date, but the first teaser shows three distinct families dealing with their share of awkward moments, such as a disagreement about whether it’s possible to do a proper toast with tea.
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The film stars Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Tom Waits, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Vicky Krieps, Sarah Greene, Indya Moore, Luka Sabbat, and Françoise Lebrun.
“Father Mother Sister Brother” is the first feature Jarmusch has directed since his 2019 zombie comedy “The Dead Don’t Die.” That film debuted to middling reviews (though it has enjoyed a subsequent reappraisal), but it was preceded by two of the strongest films of his career, 2014’s “Only Lovers Left Alive” and 2016’s “Paterson.”
The hyphenate has kept busy during his six-year hiatus, working on multiple music projects including a new series of scores he composed for Man Ray films along with his SQÜRL bandmate Carter Logan. But he hasn’t been shy about his disdain for the state of the independent film industry.
“The film industry is kind of gone,” Jarmusch said in a 2023 interview with The Guardian. “It sucks. It’s gotten worse. The kind of split-rights deals – an equal 50-50 shared profits, after costs, with financiers – that I used to be able to do with my films… if you even suggested that now, you would be laughed out of the fucking building.”
“Father Mother Sister Brother” will have its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival before screening at the New York Film Festival. MUBI will release the film in theaters on December 24. Watch the teaser below.
