Father Mother Sister Brother Trailer Breakdown: Jarmusch Flops

The 2025 Venice Film Festival crowned Jim Jarmusch‘s latest, Father Mother Sister Brother, with the Golden Lion. An award for lifetime achievement, perhaps, but certainly not for the film itself. MUBI is now dropping the official trailer and poster for the film’s limited US release, hoping festival prestige can mask what is, in reality, an interminable, self-satisfied cinematic exercise that deserves none of the attention it will inevitably receive.

I sat through this one. Barely. The narrative ambition is there—a three-part, character-driven triptych spanning the US, Dublin in Ireland, and Paris in France. It features an ensemble cast any director would kill for, including Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Tom Waits, and Vicky Krieps. But a great cast does not automatically deliver a great movie, and this collection of quiet, observational studies is proof positive that sometimes, less is just less.

The Marketing: Selling Melancholy as Prestige

The poster is a masterpiece of vertical marketing manipulation. It utilizes a stacked, three-tier composition that perfectly mirrors the triptych structure, turning the cast into a prestige grid. The top panel is dark and somber, the middle panel is brighter, and the bottom rests in earthy tones, but the overall effect is disjointed. It screams “important arthouse film,” complete with pull quotes—a funny, observed jewel, gently moving, a film to savour—that clash violently with the film’s core lack of momentum. It’s the visual equivalent of being told to pay attention because famous people are sitting still.

The official trailer maintains the studied, dry Jarmuschian tone. The sound design is deliberately sparse, foregrounding dialogue that feels written to be quoted at cocktail parties. When a character asks about health, they reference an episode “at mom’s funeral” [01:09]; another dryly observes the cast is “accidentally color-coordinated” [01:01]. MUBI is selling this awkward stillness as “observational comedy,” but its real effect is a suffocating atmosphere of aimlessness. This marketing strategy banks on the audience confusing boredom with profound subtlety.

Old Ground and Stale Coffee

Jarmusch has always been the master of the low-stakes, hang-out film, where the atmosphere is the story. Think Coffee and Cigarettes or the hypnotic melancholy of Only Lovers Left Alive. Father Mother Sister Brother, however, never earns its lack of action.

The film hinges on the strained relationships between estranged siblings forced to confront their emotionally distant parents. It plays on the eternal, cynical truth encapsulated in the trailer’s core thesis: “It’s like they say, you can choose your friends and your lovers but you can’t choose your family” [01:30]. But this core thematic premise is nothing new, and Jarmusch’s approach here is neither witty enough to stand as comedy nor insightful enough to work as drama. It’s simply tedious.

The structure—three distinct short films rather than a cohesive feature—feels less like a creative choice and more like a failure to connect disparate pieces of material. It premiered at the 2025 Venice Film Festival and subsequently played at the NYFF, securing its spot on the year-end prestige slate, but I doubt this film will resonate beyond a handful of critics desperate to champion anything that feels difficult. MUBI will open the film in select US theaters on December 24, 2025, but save your holiday cash for something that actually moves. You can’t fake emotional resonance. And God knows they try.

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Snapshot: What to Remember About Jarmuschs New Feature

• Award Discrepancy The film won the Golden Lion at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, a decision that feels more like an honor for the director’s decades-long career than a critique of the film itself. It is a surprising victory for such a muted and unengaging feature.
• The Triptych Structure The feature is divided into three separate segments, or character studies, each set in a different location: the Northeast US, Dublin, and Paris. This segmented approach contributes to the overall feeling of narrative distance.
• Marketing Deconstruction The poster uses the impressive ensemble cast—including Mayim Bialik and Charlotte Rampling—in a stylized, three-panel composition to manufacture prestige. The entire marketing campaign is selling the promise of quiet, observational depth.
• The Problem of Tone The film is pitched as an ensemble comedy interwoven with threads of melancholy. In practice, the tone is so dry and non-judgmental that it veers into the excruciatingly boring and pointless, undermining the potential comedy.
• Distribution Strategy Independent distributor MUBI is handling the release, which is targeted for select US theaters beginning late this year. This platform choice suggests a push for the arthouse audience who will prioritize the auteur’s brand.

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Critical Q&A

Is Father Mother Sister Brother a necessary part of Jarmuschs filmography?

A: Absolutely not. While his filmography, which includes masterpieces like Broken Flowers, is essential viewing for any student of American independent cinema, this latest feature feels like a footnote—a collection of tired ideas that add nothing new to his long-established style.

Why did a festival like Venice award the Golden Lion to a film critics found boring?

A: It’s the classic festival paradox. Sometimes, juries honor reputation and auteur legacy over the artistic merit of the specific work in competition. Given the film’s status as an ensemble comedy about family, it was likely an easy, if baffling, choice for a prestigious award.

Does the all-star cast elevate the material?

A: The cast—which includes major figures like Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat—is solid, but no amount of talent can save a script that gives them little to do but observe and under-react. Their presence simply reminds you of the better films they’ve been in.