Father Mother Sister Brother
The godfather of modern American independent cinema, Jim Jarmusch, is back with “Mother Father Sister Brother,” his first film since 2019’s “The Dead Don’t Die.” An anthology style film, Jarmusch presents three stories about three different families in three different countries. Their common theme is the exploration of complex, strained relationships between parents and their adult children. Jarmusch’s style isn’t for everyone. You either love him or you don’t. His films are meditative, poetic and require the viewer to slow down and take in the people and places he’s presenting. This is probably even harder for audiences now than it was in the 1980s when he made some of his most well-known films. In fact, this film was rejected by the Cannes Film Festival but won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival.
The first story takes place in New Jersey with Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik as the adult children and Tom Waits plays the father they’re performing a wellness check on, while simultaneously trying to get to know him better. The middle story focuses on a successful novelist whose two daughters have moved to Dublin to be near, but not close to their mother. The third takes place in an empty Paris apartment with the two adult children whose parents died together in a private plane piloted by their mother. As they sift through photos and trinkets, they try to piece together deeper questions about who their parents were and their own place in the world.
Jarmusch has made anthology films, notably Mystery Train and Night on Earth, with some success before. You won’t often find huge punchlines or overwrought drama in his films, they’re more about moments that feel lived in—those willing to slow down and take them in will be rewarded.
Also starring Cate Blanchette and Charlotte Rampling.
Opens Jan. 9 at the State Theatre.
No Other Choice
Park Chan-wook is one of the handful of directors that kicked off the golden age of Korean Cinema in the early 2000s with films like Oldboy, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and The Handmaiden. He’s known for his extremely dark, sometimes violent, morbidly funny films that are not exactly Hollywood friendly, but have made him a legend. No Other Choice is about an average guy, Man-su, with a middling corporate job, who gets fired when his company is sold to American owners. In the aftermath Man-su goes through the stages of job loss grief including therapy sessions and classes in how to present oneself at an interview. He quickly finds that not many companies are hiring and finally decides his new job plan is to eliminate the competition in a literal way. Park and three co-writers adapted the novel The Ax, by American detective novelist Donald E. Westlake. Both hard-boiled and morbidly funny in style, this is a film whose subject matter will resonate with American, as well as Korean audiences. For those looking to wade into Chan-wook’s filmography, this is a good place to start. Starring Lee Byung-hun and Son Ye-jin.
Opens Jan. 16 at the State Theatre.
The Choral
A choral society’s male members enlist in World War I, leaving music director Dr. Henry Guthrie (Ralph Fiennes) to find teenage boys to replace them. They experience the joys of music and singing while grappling with their probably conscription into the army. The Choral is the kind of period piece that was a mainstay of 90s cinema. In fact, director Nicholas Hynter and screenwriter Alan Bennett collaborated on The Madness of King George, which was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, in 1995, and won one for Art Direction. In 2026, can a film set in 1916, with good old-fashioned storytelling, and classical music compete for theater audiences that are pitched slick, fast-paced, effects-filled fare? For the sake of good storytelling and the movie theater experience, one hopes so. Also starring Mark Addy (The Full Monty) and Emily Fairn.
Opens soon at the Michigan Theater.
Revival Movie Picks
Lilo & Stich
This classic children’s movie screens as a free event with tickets reserved in advance on the Michigan Theater website.
Playing Jan. 11 at the Michigan Theater.
Romeo & Juliet
Baz Luhrmann’s audacious, modern, music video spin on Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the titular star-crossed lovers. This bold, if sometimes uneven retelling celebrates its 30th anniversary. It’s a great time to see it in a theater.
Playing Jan. 20 at the Michigan Theater.
Godzilla & Godzilla vs Hedorah
Round out the month with a DOUBLE FEATURE of Godzilla! Part of the Monster Matinees series.
Playing Jan. 31 at the Michigan Theater.
