written by: Jim Jarmusch
produced by: Charles Gillibert, Joshua Astrachan, Carter Logan, and Atilla Salih Yücer
directed by: Jim Jarmusch
rating: R (for language)
runtime: 110 min.
U.S. release date: December 24, 2025 (limited) and January 9, 2026 (wide)

There are three different families in writer/director Jim Jarmusch’s latest drama, “Father Mother Sister Brother”, living in three different countries, yet the similarities are there if you’re as observant as Jarmusch. After taking a genre detour with the 2019 horror comedy, “The Dead Don’t Die”, Jarmusch is now focusing on something more relatable as he presents strained familial relationships, in particular adult children and their estranged parents. It’s a curious and engaging triptych, presenting character eccentricities within a through line of melancholy and sadness that permeates each story. Once you align yourself with Jarmusch’s pacing, a director who’s known for appreciating the minutiae in life, then you’ll be rewarded with something special.

Each of Jarmusch’s stories runs a little over 30 minutes and is titled to remind us of the film’s title, in that chronological order. The first is “Father”, which finds siblings Jeff (Adam Driver) and Emily (Mayim Bialik) driving through a snowy New Jersey countryside to visit their reclusive Father (Tom Waits). They don’t appear to have the closest relationship, but have decided to see their septagenarian father after their mother had recently passed away. They haven’t seen him since he had a breakdown at her funeral. Consider it a wellness check. Jeff is more concerned about their father than Emily, which is why he brings him a care package a parent would give a college-age child. It could be because the remote cabin he lives in seems dilapidated, complete with a rundown pick-up truck parked outside. Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t.

Neither Jeff nor Emily shares with their father how they truly feel about him or about their living situation. They have either chosen not to disclose their true feelings out of respect for their father or because it’s just too hard (or maybe easier). There’s a revelation in this story that’s solely for viewers, and it’s quite funny. It has something to say about how parents live lives outside of being parents, which children of any age seldom think about.

In Dublin, Ireland, we’re introduced to an elderly English Mother (Charlotte Rampling), who is preparing her home for the arrival of her two adult daughters for their annual tea party. It is the one time throughout the year when the three are together. Before they arrive, the Mother can be seen taking a therapy session over the phone while reclining on her couch, expressing her hope that her daughters refrain from stirring anything up. That may refer to bringing up past issues or just arguing in general, which would clearly disrupt the peaceful environment she has carefully curated for herself.

The first to arrive is the free-spirited, pink-haired Lilith (Vicky Krieps), who presents herself as an influencer, going out of her way to convince their mother that life is going great for her. She also shares that there’s still a rich and handsome guy who wants to marry her, but she’s unsure. Car trouble is making the other daughter, Timothea (Cate Blanchett), who goes by “Tim”, late to the appointment. She is more composed, proper, and polite, with a bemused smile that likely hides what she really feels and rarely ever shows.

Once Tim arrives, we learn that their Mother is an accomplished author, although we get the idea that she rarely discussed her career with her daughters. Once the trio is seated amid an embarrassment of pastries and sweets, paired with fine china for tea. As the daughters update their mother, their history of competing for their mother’s approval becomes obvious. Rampling’s Mother is wryly observant and passive-aggressively judgmental, which keeps the daughters at a distance. Since both daughters arrive by car, it’s a given that they live nearby, yet the fact that this is the only time of the year they see their mother confirms that their distance isn’t strictly geographic. They know how to maintain pleasantries as they take their tea, smiling and complimenting the food, anything to prevent deep conversations or divulge anything truthful.

Finally, there’s “Sister Brother,” wherein siblings Skye (Indya Moore) and Billy (Luka Sabbat) reunite in Paris after the death of their parents in a plane crash somewhere over the Azores. The two gather at their childhood dwelling, a now-empty apartment overseen by landlord Madame Gautier (Françoise Lebrun, known for 1973’s “The Mother and the Whore”), where they do shrooms while rummaging through the personal effects their parents left behind. Billy shares old photos and drawings with Skye, along with some fake IDs and a fake marriage license. Of the three stories, this is the most open and direct conversation we get between family members, as the siblings wonder if they truly know their parents and who they will be moving forward. There’s no unspoken conflict in “Sister Brother” and it could be that the big difference is that their parents are not in the picture, which provides a different story dynamic.

Jarmusch is no stranger to dramedy anthologies like this, having made two back-to-back with 1989’s Mystery Train” and 1991’s “Night on Earth”, and then again with 2003’s “Coffee and Cigarettes”. A few of the actors here were in those films, which shared a melancholy comedic tone. There is definitely comedy in “Father Mother Sister Brother”, but its cadence and tone are more akin to Jarmusch’s “Patterson”, which starred Adam Driver as a bus driver in the eponymous New Jersey town who has a passion for poetry. The difference here is that none of these characters is ever alone, and Jarmusch (along with cinematographers Frederick Elmes and Yorick Le Saux, both previous collaborators) focuses on what appears to be small talk. Most of the time, the camera doesn’t dwell elsewhere, so it’s easy to consider the thoughts and feelings that lie beneath the surface of these characters.

Jarmuch’s characters live within the lines of the quirky characteristics he’s created for them. In the “Father” story, Driver’s Jeff has a quirkiness and strangeness that come out in subtle ways, as shown when he debates the validity of toasting with non-alcoholic drinks. Waits is a hoot to watch onscreen, and watching him here makes you wish he’d take more acting roles. Still, it’s great to see him reunited with Jarmusch. Apparently, Jarmusch came up with the concept of this story because he wanted a story in which Driver played Waits’ son. The two actors convey their dynamic with great synchrony, and at times, you get the sense that Bialik’s Emily feels out of the loop, which is often the case when one child is more like their parent than the other.

There is imagery begun in “Father”, some of which is carried over into the next two vignettes. Skateboarders are noticed by Jeff and Emily as they make their way to their Father’s place, and Jarmusch slows the camera to follow them. Emily asks about a Rolex watch her father has, which he brushes off as fake. There are also skaters seen in Dublin as Timothea makes her way to her Mother’s home. Lilith is spotted wearing a Rolex watch, which is curious considering her financial struggles. We also see Billy find an old Rolex watch amid the personal belongings he and Skye rummage through. The other loosely connective tissue in all three sections is variations of the phrase, “Bob’s your uncle”, which usually gets a confusing response from whoever hears it uttered.

These commonalities are slight and aren’t truly noticed until the end of the film, and even then, there’s no real rhyme or reason to any of it. Maybe Jarmusch is simply indicating that these three families located in three different countries aren’t all that different. The more viewers ruminate over each of the stories in “Father Mother Sister the more they’ll be rewarded. I can’t help thinking about the adult children in the film, and how they have to come to terms with their relationships with their parents as they all get older. They may not come to these terms during the film, but you know they’ll need to. It’s something universal that we all go through. Our relationship changes with our parents as we age, especially when they die, and oftentimes parents find themselves figuring out their own lives as their children are busy with their own.

RATING: ***