Now in his 70s, onetime proto-hipster Jim Jarmusch has moved on from the minimalist mannerism of his 1980s calling cards Stranger Than Paradise and Down by Law, but he’s never gone mainstream. Continuing to work on a modest scale, writing his own screenplays, and working at his own pace, Jarmusch has alternated genre riffs such as Only Lovers Left Alive and The Dead Don’t Die with offbeat human dramas like Father Mother Sister Brother, his first feature in six years. This trilogy of thematically linked tales, the structure of which harks back to 1989’s Mystery Train, centers on (as the title indicates) family dynamics in their myriad, Tolstoyan complexities and features a cast whose talent and renown are a testament to the director’s place in the auteurist firmament.

In the first segment, “Father,” which opens to an eerie cover of Spooky by the British-German singer Anika, a pair of siblings (Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik) visit their semi-estranged father (Tom Waits, doing an excellent Nick Nolte impression—or is it vice versa?) in wintry, rural New Jersey. There’s a stiltedness both to their encounter and the dialogue Jarmusch has written for them, which can feel like a ham-fisted effort at something between John Cheever and Russell Banks. Driver, in his third Jarmusch film, has rarely if ever been less attractive on screen, and the pseudo-stunt casting of Bialik (better known as a former child and sitcom star, erstwhile Jeopardy host, and sometime vaccine denialist) works just fine. Waits, a stalwart member of the Jarmusch troupe for 40 years, is the attraction, and anytime the inscrutable, gravel-voiced legend deigns to honor us with a screen performance, we should be grateful: this is his most engaging such work in many a moon.

Part two, “Mother,” brings together a titanic trio of female actors, even one of whom would be enough to cow a less experienced filmmaker. Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, and Charlotte Rampling, together on one set, is an exhilarating and terrifying thought. In “Father,” a parent tries to mooch off their children, but here two daughters (Blanchett and Krieps) of a successful novelist (Rampling) meet with her for their annual tea in Dublin. There, Krieps’ character, a self-identified “influencer” trying to hide her desperate economic circumstances, passive-aggressively seeks help from a parent who has clearly always been distant and unforgiving. (You can tell because she’s played by Charlotte Rampling.)

The final segment, and the longest, “Sister Brother,” foregoes major Hollywood stars in favor of Indya Moore, an actor/model who appeared in the TV series Pose, and Luka Sabbat, a star of the TV series Grown-ish. They play twin siblings who have come to the Paris apartment their parents called home before dying in a recent plane crash in the Azores. Despite his own alabaster appearance, Jarmusch has always made room for performers of color in his films, from Masatoshi Nagase to Forest Whitaker to Gary Farmer. Perhaps unburdened by star personae, Moore and Sabbat forge a genuine and moving bond, and this segment depicts, albeit in retrospect, the healthiest parent-child relationship in the movie. “Mom and pop, they will fuck you up for sure,” as David Byrne sang in Until the End of the World, but you’ll still miss them when they’re gone.

In each of these stories, motifs recur: a group of skateboarders appears, gliding by in slow-motion; a character lists a litany of drugs; the phrase “Bob’s your uncle,” or some variation, is employed; an overhead shot captures the pouring of water or tea into cups; and perhaps a few others. The most annoying repetition, though, is (probably?) not an intentional one, but it’s a pet peeve. In movies today, you can depict almost anything the human imagination can concoct, and it’ll look more or less realistic. The only exception seems to be filming characters in a moving car. Time and again, utterly unconvincing greenscreen ruins these elementary shots, and not even a director as particular and experienced as Jarmusch is apparently immune to this visual plague. Most of the time, Father Mother Sister Brother works as intended, but every time the characters hit the road, this glaring inability to make car travel look realistic takes you right out of the movie. (3.5/5) (Hollywood Theatre, Salem Cinema, Vancouver Mall)

All That’s Left of You: It’s been a remarkable year for films, both fictional and non-, made by, in, or about Palestine. The Oscar-winning documentary No Other Home was the most high-profile of several movies providing a ground-level look at events in Gaza, the West Bank, and beyond from a perspective rarely if ever foregrounded. Like all art that dares to tackle complex, emotionally charged topics, recent Palestinian cinema has been tarred as propaganda, and to some extent the label fits. These films don’t claim complete neutrality but exist rather as a corrective to dominant narratives that themselves propagandize for their own priorities. So, the fact that the family in the intergenerational saga All That’s Left of You is composed of two-dimensional, morally flawless members doesn’t (much) dull the power of the story it tells.

Directed by the Palestinian-American filmmaker Cherien Dabis (Amreeka), Jordan’s submission for the 2025 Best International Feature Film Oscar begins with an elderly woman speaking to the camera about her son, who had become caught up in a protest against Israeli forces. To understand him, she says, you need to know some history. Cut to 1948 Jaffa, in the wake of the Deir Yassin massacre, as the Nakba picks up speed after Israel’s declaration of independence. A middle-class family weighs whether to abandon their home and its orange grove, with dad Sharif (Adam Bakri) eventually staying behind as his wife Munira (Maria Zreik) and kids go to stay with her brother in Nablus. He and the other holdouts eventually obtain promises from the Israelis that they can keep their homes, but those promises are immediately broken once they surrender and Sharif is sent to a concentration camp.

Cut to a West Bank refugee camp in 1978. Sharif (now played by Mohammad Bakri), lost in reverie, frequently imagines he is back in Jaffa. His now-grown son Salim (Saleh Bakri) teaches grade school and now has a young son of his own, Noor. Thirty years after being evicted, the family (and thousands of others) languishes in the substandard conditions that have become so familiar to Palestinians under Israeli rule, and Dabis takes the time to depict this environment in a way that avoids hyperbole but does not turn away from the squalor. While walking to get medicine for an ailing family member, Salim and Noor are accosted and humiliated by Israeli soldiers for being out after curfew, an event that instills in the boy a resentment against both his father and his occupiers.

1988. Noor, Salim’s son, is a teenager. The First Intifada has begun. You may be able to guess some of the rest of the story, but a third-act twist adds emotional complexity to what had been a straightforward generational saga and gives meaning to the film’s title.

Depicting historical events through one family’s experience is a venerable trope, and one that works best when it sprawls enough to encompass a variety of experiences. Dabis is content to keep the point of view limited to that of its characters, which avoids having to deal with the moral questions raised by instances of Palestinian or Arab terrorism and violence during these decades. There’s no mention of the PLO or Black September, and Israeli characters run the gamut from coolly officious to heartlessly cruel. Again, though, that may be asking too much of a film, and a people, who have been waiting nearly a century to be heard by the rest of the world. In any event, it’s a touching sendoff for Mohammad Bakri, the Palestinian Israeli actor who also directed a hard-hitting documentary about the 2002 Jenin massacre and who died on December 24, 2025. He appears with two of his sons in a role that feels like a fitting capstone to a career of art and activism. (3/5) (NOTE: This film had been slated to open in Portland on January 9th, but seems to have fallen off the schedule. It is opening at the Darkside Cinema in Corvallis on January 30th, and at the Beacon in Seattle on January 16th.)

Rosemead: Lucy Liu gives a committed performance in the extremely difficult role of Irene, a single mother battling cancer while she tries to care for her increasingly unstable teenaged son, Joe (Lawrence Shou). Members of Los Angeles’ Taiwanese American community, Irene and Joe struggle to deal with the onset of schizophrenia symptoms and other indicators of potentially violent behavior. He begins showing an interest in mass shooters, he scribbles disturbing drawings in his notebook, he searches the internet for information on guns. Already hesitant to share her diagnosis with Joe following his father’s sudden death, Irene is also reluctant to seek help from either her fellow immigrants or more traditional sources of aid. Director Eric Lin’s debut feature, based on a 2017 Los Angeles Times article, is unsparing in its depiction of both mother’s and son’s increasing desperation and the cultural barriers and misunderstandings that contribute to it. (3/5) (Regal Fox Tower, Eastport Plaza)

Also this week

Whitsell Auditorium: After a lengthy closure during the renovation and expansion of the Portland Art Museum, the Whitsell Auditorium, former hub of the Northwest Film Center, reopens this weekend. To commemorate, the museum is screening Johann Lurf’s ★, an experiential, looping film about movie stars—not the Brad Pitts and Julia Roberts of the world, but the night skies that have been captured by movie cameras over the last century-plus. From there, the Whitsell will host weekend matinees each Saturday and Sunday, with the theme for this batch of screenings inspired by PAM’s current exhibition of Marco Brambilla’s stunning video work, “Maximalist Dreamscapes.” The old Whitsell was not an ideal place for cinema spectating, so it will be interesting to see what improvements have been made to the space. (January 10 & 11, Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave., Portland)

Baahubali: The Epic: “A legendary warrior emerges from humble beginnings to challenge powerful forces threatening his homeland, as ancient prophecies and family bonds shape his journey.” The director of RRR has combined his earlier two-part historical action epic into a single, nearly four-hour feast. (1/10, Hollywood)

Surviving Sex Trafficking: “Brave and resilient sex trafficking survivors around the world share their struggles to break free from their past and find hope for the future.” (1/11, Hollywood)

Also opening

The Chronology of Water: “A woman, after an abusive childhood, escapes into competitive swimming, sexual experimentation, toxic relationships, and addiction before finding her voice through writing.” Kristen Stewart directs Imogen Poots in an adaptation of Portland author Lidia Yuknavitch’s acclaimed memoir. (Regal Fox Tower)

Greenland 2: Migration: “The surviving Garrity family must leave the safety of the Greenland bunker and embark on a perilous journey across the decimated frozen wasteland of Europe to find a new home.” Gerard Butler and Monica Baccarin star. (multiple locations)

I Was a Stranger: “Five strangers are pulled together, colliding on a single night where survival is uncertain.” (multiple locations)

Is This Thing On?: “As their marriage unravels, Alex (Will Arnett) faces middle age and divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene. Meanwhile, his wife Tess (Laura Dern) confronts sacrifices made for their family, forcing them to navigate co-parenting and identities.” Reviewed in my column of December 19th. (multiple locations)

Primate: “A group of friends’ tropical vacation turns into a terrifying, primal tale of horror and survival.” (multiple locations)

Repertory

Friday 1/9

• Blade Runner: The Final Cut [1982] (Academy; through 1/15)
• Blue Hawaii [1961] (Kiggins)
• Cube [1997] (Cinemagic)
• Flesh for Frankenstein [1973] (Academy; through 1/15)
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [2012] (multiple)
• Starman [1984] (Academy; through 1/15)
• Swan Song [2021] (Clinton)
• To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar [1995] (Tomorrow)

Saturday 1/10

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey [2012] (Kennedy School)
• The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies [2014] (Kennedy School)
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug [2013] (Kennedy School)
• Moon [2009] (Salem)
• Party Monster [2003] (Hollywood)
• Saboteur [1942] (Cinema 21)
• Swing Girls [2004] (Tomorrow)
• Zoot Suit [1981] (Clinton)

Sunday 1/11

• Hedwig and the Angry Inch [2001] (Tomorrow)

Monday 1/12

• Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb [1964] (Hollywood)
• Ocean’s Eleven [2001] (Salem)
• The Wizard of Oz [1939] (multiple)

Tuesday 1/13

• King Arthur: Legend of the Sword [2017] (multiple)
• The Last Waltz [1978] (Clinton)
• Martial Arts of Shaolin [1986] (Hollywood)

Wednesday 1/14

• Set It Off [1996] (Hollywood)

Thursday 1/15

• Brick [2006] (multiple)
• It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley [2025] (Clinton)
• Pedicab Driver [1989] (Cinemagic)