Father Mother Sister Brother
Original music by Jim Jarmusch and Anika from the film
File under films seen after having heard the soundtrack: Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother is a film consisting of three short stories about relationships between adult children and their parents. Distance and affinity as you grow older, as well as honesty are themes across the stories.
The music of Father Mother Sister Brother is gentle blurriness that feels sympathetic but incomplete, still searching for clarity but never falling into despair.
Scored by Jim Jarmusch and Anika, most of the tracks of Father Mother Sister Brother are instrumentals composed of guitar, autoharp and Wurlitzer and Rhodes pianos. Anika’s renditions of two well known songs, “Spooky” and “These Days” boldly bookend the film. The soundtrack was released in 2025 by Sacred Bones.
The most engrossing is “Skaters” which is paired with a recurring dreamlike element in the film. Other tracks like “Jetlag” and “Paris Bleu” also carry a sense of out-of-focus, otherworldliness. Short tracks like “The World In Reverse” and “The Lake” convey a bit mystery without being creepy.
The film has had a gradual release since first screening at the 2025 Venice Film Festival. It’s available online via MUBI and currently playing in The Netherlands if you want to catch it in a theatre now.