Film Review: FATHER MOTHER SISTER BROTHER: Jim Jarmusch’s Profound Drama Offers Relatable Situations and Familiar Family Scenarios [NYFF 2025]

Father Mother Sister Brother Review

Father Mother Sister Brother (2025) Film Review from the 63rd Annual New York Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Jim Jarmusch and starring Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Tom Waits, Charlotte Rampling, Indya Moore, Mayim Bialik, Luka Sabbat, Sarah Greene and Françoise Lebrun.

Filmmaker Jim Jarmusch dissects the mundane, but relatable, interactions of different sets of family members in the profoundly moving drama, Father Mother Sister Brother. Jarmusch has never been a conventional filmmaker so it would be naive to think he would start becoming one now. Nevertheless, Father Mother Sister Brother plays like a relatable tale of family connections after the kids move out of their parents’ homes and various situations arise. This story is told in three parts in three different countries, and is notable for featuring some heavy-hitting performers, many of whom are excellent even if the character development is a bit limited given the brevity of the three tales the movie spins.

Mayim Balik and Adam Driver are featured as siblings Emily and Jeff in the opening segment, “Father.” While they are on the road going to visit their dad, they talk in the car on their way to see him. They arrive at their dad, Jeff (Tom Waits, never better)’s home and they see that he is a bit confused and apparently he gets around in an old vehicle and has very little money to his name. Ice cubes are dropped into drinking water and the situation looks pretty sad to professionals, Emily and Jeff, who engage in a conversation that involves getting promoted at work. Jeff, Sr. soon plays around with an ax and seems disconnected with the world. Though Emily and Jeff, Jr. want to be there for their dad, a difficult choice comes when Jeff, Jr. gives Sr. some money that Sr. reluctantly accepts. Sr. wears a Rolex watch which is believed to be a knockoff although it’s hard to decide until the end of the segment whether it is, indeed, real or not.

Then, there’s the second segment, “Mother.” In this story, Charlotte Rampling plays a mom whose two grown girls come to the house to have a meal with her. They’re played by Vicky Krieps (Lilith) and Cate Blanchett (Timothea). This sequence features Lilith, a woman with dyed hair and a very casual attitude and juxtaposes her to her more down-to-earth, if still a little offbeat, sister, Timothea. Here another character discusses a promotion at work and a Rolex comes into the equation yet another time. It all culminates in mom paying for Lilith’s Uber and the three central characters waiting for it to arrive.

In “Sister Brother,” we get two siblings portrayed by Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat. They play Skye and Billy, respectfully. This is the most poignant segment of the picture as they try to settle their family affairs after the death of both their parents. They arrive at their old house and share memories of the past while trying to piece together the mysteries of their childhood. For example, some of the documents they have seem to be forged while others such as their birth certificates seem to be totally legit.

In a movie full of solid performances, Vicky Krieps is the most effective actress in the film. She plays her character in a genuine way that makes us understand why she tries to lie to her mom and her sister to make her life sound better than it actually is. Krieps could break the viewer’s heart while Rampling and Blanchett, both always phenomenal, play it straight in terms of being no-nonsense characters who are easy to relate to even if the film never makes us like them too much.

Tom Waits chews scenery in the first sequences of the movie that make us believe the dad has lost his marbles, so to say. Bialik and Driver play the serious ones while Waits acts as if he’s lost a lot more than money over the years since his kids grew up. He seems to have lost his sanity. Jarmusch has a trick up his sleeve, though, and audiences will enjoy the results.

Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat are very likable here, but there’s the problem of some of the stilted dialogue which plays rationally but lacks genuine polish in terms of its presentation. One could laugh at some of their exchanges which feel forced at times, yet it’s hard not to care about the characters Sabbat and Moore play who end up in a storage unit where all their parents’ old stuff has been placed.

Jarmusch keeps everything moving along at a brisk pace. There are a couple of scenes in the second part of the film which show the fairly big meal the characters are eating with shots from above the table. Skateboarders appear in the three segments to imply that many people are skating by in life without a clue as to how they’re making it and there’s something profound about the skateboard riders placed strategically in each sequence

While Moore and Sabbat’s performances will resonate with audiences, the tale also rests on the interaction between these two actors and the results could touch your heart as the two stars create believable and relatable characters. If Father Mother Brother Sister isn’t exactly the best Jarmusch movie, it’s the most accessible for art house and specialty audiences. It has a lot of heart in the ending scenes and that rises the material up a bit from your standard dramatic Jarmusch film. Driver and Bialik certainly acquit themselves admirably in their roles while Blanchett doesn’t make a false move during her scenes in the middle of the picture.

Father Mother Sister Brother is an entertaining and intriguing exercise in independent film-making. As characters sort out their pasts, presents and futures, they come to rely on preconceived notions about how families should be versus the realities of how family interactions often play out. There’s awkwardness in some of the scenes which is right on the money and it gives the movie a distinct edge as a character study.

As stated, Jarmusch has done better work than Father Mother Sister Brother, but there’s no denying the power of the way the characters interact and handle the very delicate situations that come up. Indya Moore, in particular, has an earnestness in her work that makes her character’s bond with the brother played by Sabbat all the more powerful. Krieps steals the show, but Moore will steal your heart. This is a good picture.

Rating: 7.5/10

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