Father Mother Sister Brother: An Interview with Longtime Jarmusch Producer Carter Logan
Carter Logan and Jim Jarmusch. Photo: Sara Driver
Told through a triptych of three disconnected families, Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother is a minimalistic meditation on attempted reconciliation—between relatives and within the self. It also is an unexpected triumph: winner of the coveted Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival 2025, it went on to become the New York Film Festival’s Centerpiece Screening: two compelling testaments to the film’s abstract potency in categories often dominated by overtly political dramas.
Jarmusch’s films famously resist traditional analysis. For some, Father Mother Sister Brother may read as deeply political; for others, purely existential. Either way, this film explores the enigma of familial tensions—glimpsed through a veil of quiet provocation and avant-garde beauty.
The relationships here are lowkey, understated. Connected only by subtle motifs and recurring gestures, emotions unfold across three vignettes. In the first, two adult siblings (Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik) visit their aging, financially reckless father (Tom Waits) in a sequence of pure oddball hilarity. In the second, two estranged sisters (Vicky Krieps and Cate Blanchett) visit their wary, truth-dodging mother (Charlotte Rampling). This tea table deception echoes the first encounter in slyly refracted ways—Jarmusch’s trademark deadpan at its driest. The final and most tender chapter follows twin orphans (Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat) in a poignant study of sibling love. Near its end, a brief exchange with a French landlord adds deeper meaning to everything that came before.
Breadcrumbs are sprinkled throughout. Ethereal skateboarders, peculiar toasts, occasional drug use, variations on a single British idiom all invite connection without offering clarity. The film’s stop-and-start rhythm jolts us out of one reality into another, demanding surrender … and patience. The reward? Not one, but three payoffs, where the whole becomes more profound than any one of its parts.
Laced with unexpected turns and quiet revelations, Father Mother Sister Brother is a labyrinth without exit, a mood-and-character-driven exploration of the remarkable mundane, the extraordinary ordinary. Even after the film ends, it lingers: we want more time with these eccentric characters.
And perhaps most impressively, Writer/Director Jarmusch and his longtime collaborator, Producer Carter Logan achieve this luminous meditation through a nearly invisible, yet masterful sense of control. Is it possible to control a work of art that is by nature—and intent—an enigma? According to Logan, the familial interactions they explore onscreen are direct analogues to his creative process with Jarmusch.
The pair have been creating dreamscapes for the past 16 years. Logan began as associate producer on Jarmusch’s The Limits of Control (2009), co-produced Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) and rose to Producer on Paterson (2016). Since then, he has produced all of Jarmusch’s films. The two are inseparable: partners not only in cinema but in music. As the post-rock duo SQÜRL—originally formed to score the soundtrack for The Limits of Control, soon to perform alongside Man Ray’s surreal silent films at the Met—their moody compositions often define the sonic identity of their work.
How do they build their stoically independent collaborations? Here’s my exchange with Carter Logan.
Interview:
Vicky Krieps, Cate Blanchett and Charlotte Rampling. Credit: Mubi
DKD: In the press conference for Father Mother Sister Brother, the cast praised the creative openness / flexibility on set. Can you talk about the work environment you facilitate? How do you approach story as Jim’s longtime Producer?
CL: As a Producer, I consider it my duty first and foremost to be a guardian of the realm of imagination. Having time and space carved out purely for creativity is critical to every film. This work begins at the writing phase. Jim carries the ideas for his films around for years, even decades, until they are bursting out, asking to be formed into a script—but when we near production, he needs a few weeks with zero interruption in order to allow those ideas to flow onto the page. One of my personal heroes, David Lynch, likened the creative process to sitting by a river full of fish. You must wait, sometimes quite a while, until a fish comes along; then you catch the fish, examine it, decide to keep it or throw it back, and wait for the next fish. In my view, one primary responsibility as Jim’s Producer is to provide a comfortable place to sit by the river. This approach extends throughout production, where we strive to bring great collaborators together, give them the time, space and tools to dream a collective dream.
DKD: How has your relationship + perspective evolved collaborating with this crew since The Limits of Control / Only Lovers Left Alive / Paterson?
CL: I learned early on working with Jim that his crews are an extended family: you can see this in the respect, admiration and love they have for each other. What I love most about it is the magic of cast and crew sharing ideas toward a common goal. In this equation, the people come first, and I care deeply about each and every one of them. Jim has always run his sets without hierarchy in the sense that everyone has an assigned role, but no one person is more important than another. Everyone deserves to be treated with kindness, empathy and respect. Tragically, the regard for these values has declined in the world at large—so if we can collectively hold them close on a film set, we've done at least one thing right.
DKD: You mentioned a clerical production issue with IATSE that interrupted your plans for filming in Europe on schedule. Can you talk about your emotional toolkit as a filmmaker that helps you weather these inevitable challenges?
CL: While this film presents itself as very quiet and uncomplicated, the process of making it was quite the opposite. Three countries, three separate sets of actors, three production crews, SAG waivers, IATSE interruptions, financing, and on and on. However— I choose to see the hard parts as challenges, as you say, not “problems.” I’ve shared this perspective with my friend Benn Northover, who worked closely with Jonas Mekas; he says that Jonas lived by the same edict! The type of Producing I do often requires running into the fire when others might back away: enduring the heat, pushing through for the sake of the film. This one was a true test of resilience, but I kept reminding myself of the beautiful, delicate script Jim wrote and my commitment to share it with the world. During the hardest times, I turned to meditation in order to block all the negativity, to keep the big picture in mind and harness creativity to find solutions. Lynch has said "negativity is the enemy of creativity" and I believe that very deeply.
DKD: Was there something key you learned from this production, or are still learning?
CL: There are so many lessons, and my place in the world is as a lifelong learner. As humans we are able to learn much more from failure than from success. Have you ever watched a skateboarder try to land a trick? They’ll try over and over and over, missing, falling, failing, but each time adjusting their approach, their speed, their timing, getting closer and closer until they eventually land it. As for this film, we took some risks we paid for, some in more ways than one. I've examined these situations, taken personal inventory and accountability, become more adaptable and hopefully know better how to avoid them. In the end it was worth it: we’ve made a nuanced film about family and love, made by hand in a chaotic world.
DKD: Jim insists this isn’t an analytical film, but the audience had their own interpretations. In your mind, what’s the ideal viewing mindset for going into this film?
CL: We've been very fortunate to have this film truly be felt by audiences so far, I think in part because it serves as a mirror. We are all children, if not also fathers, mothers, sisters or brothers, and the film offers a space to contemplate, and make connections with, one's own family experience. We hope people will approach it as they would a member of their family: sit with us for a moment and see what is reflected back.
Luka Sabbat and Indya Moore. Credit: Mubi
Interviewed at NYFF 2025.
110 min.
Where to Watch: US Theatrical Release on December 24, 2025 by Mubi.