Father Mother Sister Brother Wins Golden Lion at Venice
Jim Jarmusch‘s multi-faceted character-driven drama, Father Mother Sister Brother, took the top prize at this year’s Venice Film Festival for Best Film.
The Venice Film Festival judges have made their selection for the Golden Lion to some mixed responses on the website, X (formerly known as Twitter). First of all, Jim Jarmusch is a master filmmaker, but his work is clearly not for everybody as some of his past films have proven. A handful of people took to X to “complain” about two of the recipients of the top prizes at this year Venice Film Festival: Father Mother Sister Brother, which won the Golden Lion, and The Smashing Machine, the Dwayne Johnson starrer which was helmed by Benny Safdie who received the Silver Lion for Best Director. One person even cursed out the head of the competition jury, Alexander Payne, in a post which has hopefully been deleted by now. That being said, there were many people who were happy with the choices which were made for these prestigious awards as well.
Setting those remarks which I read about on X aside, the winners should nevertheless be congratulated for their remarkable honors in a very selective year for cinema. Jim Jarmusch received a warm response from most of the people who attended the festival for his dedicated work on Father Mother Sister Brother which currently holds a phenomenal 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes despite the several X posts I read. Let’s make it clear, however, Jarmusch is a filmmaker who often pushes buttons with his work. This time, those risks certainly paid off if the Golden Lion is any evidence of his talent and ambition as a filmmaker. Jarmusch referred to his new film as a “quiet” one which may be why some people have complained about the win.
Father Mother Sister Brother stars include Adam Driver, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps and from the shows, Blossom and Jeopardy! fame, Mayim Bialik. This new movie about brothers, sisters, parents and loved ones also features Tom Waits and Charlotte Rampling among others.
Also winning a major award at the Venice Film Festival was The Voice of Hind Rajab, a powerful 90-minute docudrama, which took home the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. Best Actor was awarded to Toni Servillo for La Grazia while the Best Actress went to Xin Zhilei for The Sun Rises on Us All.
Jim Jarmusch has been one of my favorite directors for some time now and I adored his 2005 dramatic film, Broken Flowers, which featured Bill Murray in a heavy leading role. It will be terrific to soon experience Jarmusch’s latest, Father Mother Sister Brother, which is the centerpiece film at this year’s New York Film Festival. It is going to be further released by its studio MUBI later in the year. Without citing the film’s several detractors from X, it is with my strongest beliefs that Jarmusch has made a unique and strong film regardless of the light controversies surrounding the win. Venice rarely, if ever, gets it wrong. Last year, they chose the brilliant film, The Room Next Door. Look for our own review of Father Mother Sister Brother during our New York Film Festival coverage.
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