Father Mother Sister Brother

Though there are a few common threads running through these three films, this is essentially a tryptich on how children and parents interact in adulthood. The first sees a father (Tom Waits) living in a remote community who is being somewhat reluctantly visited by his children Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik. It's fair to say that their's isn't an especially close relationship but the son "Jeff" does send his dad some cash now and again and that appears to keep the wolf from the door (or is there some sheep's clothing involved a bit here?). Next, to Dublin, where acclaimed author "Catherine" (Charlotte Rampling) has one annual high tea with her daughters "Tim" (Cate Blanchet) and the pink haired "Lilith" (Vicky Krieps). The ritual formalities of this meeting, together with the efforts made by both women to get to their mother's suburban villa suggest the veneer is the only glue that holds this trio in alignment - and, again, that the game is not just being played by one generation at the expense of the other. Finally, we head to Paris where a pair of twenty-something twins are in the process of closing down their parent's estate after they tragically died. They are an especially - and somewhat uncomfortably - close pairing. Tactile and affectionate and prone to some reminiscing on an almost industrial scale but still with certain communalities with the preceding stories. Personally, I preferred the first of the three. Waits clearly had the measure of his kids, but did "Emily" of her father, too? Rampling can do little wrong in my book, but that story seemed to challenge us least save for pointing out that success and wealth are little compensation for loneliness and that deceit is a game all the family can play. The siblings? Well they sort of made my flesh creep a little bit, and though there is some limited humour to be found here it probably wasn't as effective as that from the first film where it emanated from our own gradual appreciation of just what was going on in this snow lakeside home. Compendium films are usually a bit hit and miss, and on balance I'd say this missed more than it hit.

FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://fandomwire.com/father-mother-sister-brother-review/ "Father Mother Sister Brother aims to be a discreet triptych about modern isolation and family bonds, but its rigid structure and aversion to conflict transform it into an exercise in style that empties itself of true content. Purposely monotonous, slow, and repetitive, Jim Jarmusch promises contemplative silence that, unfortunately, becomes a practically null experience, proving that minimalism, when stripped of an emotional or thematic backbone, is merely inertia. A complete letdown." Rating: D+