'His Three Daughters' Is an Incredible Performers Piece of a Film
Not that's how you make a family drama. You escape being overly mushy while also resolving issues with characters in a believable, effective manner. His Three Daughters is one of the most genuinely emotional films of the year loaded with spectacular performances all across the board. Writer/Director Azazel Jacobs makes a distinctly powerful film. It exercises restraint while also not being afraid to hold back. Most films with a story like this could feel too melodramatic. It can play like a soap opera where everyone is openly weeping at the drop of a hat. Luckily, this film isn't that. It does have its fair share of teary-eyed moments, but they're all earned in a spectacular bottle movie.
You may be asking, "What's a bottle movie?" A bottle movie is a film set within one location. Think of films like Phonebooth or Panic Room. Both movies are set entirely in one location, maybe with the exception of the beginning and ending. Now mix that genre with stageplay films like Doubt, Fences, or 12 Angry Men, and you get the idea of what type of picture this is. His Three Daughters is a stageplay of a flick. Everything is set in one place and is entirely driven by dialogue. To my surprise, His Three Daughters isn't adapted from a play. Yet the movie could be performed entirely on stage. It's an actor's showcase where your cast better deliver, or they'll sink the film. There's limited visual stimulation to drive the narrative, leaving everything entirely in the cast's hands. Thankfully, they do a spectacular job. If not for a brilliant script, the performances would not be noticed.
The story is about a dying father, Vincent (Jay O. Sanders). His three daughters come to his aid in his final moments by staying in his apartment while in hospice care. The siblings don't maintain a healthy relationship. Time has caused them to grow distant while continuing gripes draw them even further apart. What makes a film work is having distinguishable characters. From the opening moments of the film we get who these three women are through their characteristics. Katie (Carrie Coon) is the boss lady of the family. She has a short temper with little time for everyone's BS. Katie's not a jerk. There's kindness in her heart, but she buries it with her condescension. Specifically when she mistreats her sister Rachel (Natasha Lyonne), mostly, it's because Rachel never grew up. Now in her mid-forties, Rachel still lives in her dad's apartment. She smokes weed all day and doesn't work. Once Vincent passes away, Rachel will have his apartment all to herself. Something that draws great resentment from Katie. In the middle of the heated drama between the two is Christina (Elizabeth Olsen). Christina is a free-spirited woman who seems to live on her own planet. By being away from her children out of state, Christina's homesickness is killing her inside.
The cast brings these characters swimmingly to life. Carrie Coon does a fabulous job of being a complicated woman who's cutthroat. The things Katie says to Rachel are unnecessarily cruel. Yet she's speaking the truth, thinking that she's helping her when, in reality, all she's doing is hurting her. Coon brings a degree of sternness and sensitivity to make the character layered. Elizabeth Olsen does a good job at playing someone who has taken too many Yoga classes and can't stop saying namaste to everyone. Olsen's Christina comes across as someone who's about to have a nervous breakdown. She brings a level of complexity to her character that makes us understand her anxiety without just coming across like a Yoga Tweek from South Park.
The standout performance of the film goes to Natasha Lyonne. In most movies, Rachel would have been written as a laughable character. Rachel's not giving a f*** persona is much more sophisticated than just a write-off role. In fact, she's the heart of the story. Lyonne's hoarse voice and baggy eyes are a perfect fit for her part. More so, when Lyonne has to emote, she does so in spades. When the final act comes, Lyonne might have you reaching for your Kleenex.
Although performed like a play, the film's aesthetics are impressive. The picture starts with a flat shot of Katie sitting up against a white wall while patronizing Rachel. When the camera cuts to Rachel, it's at another flat angle, revealing a portion of the apartment. The scene communicates visually that there's a great distance between the sisters. The flat white wall behind Katie depicts how cold she is to other people. Rachel's angle is more colorful, revealing more of the apartment, resembling how she's a warm spirit. The movie does away with using typical over-the-shoulder shots for conversations. Each angle has a wide depth of field characterizing the apartment as this small place everyone is trapped in.
Much of the film doesn't have a background score. The only time we hear it is during an interlude in the beginning half of the picture with a somber piano playing and the end when everyone has reached their revelations. Instead of letting the score drive the emotion, Director Azazel Jacobs relies on silence. That silence brings a welcome level of intimacy with its characters that instantly draws you in.
With powerful performances, a keen eye for the camera, and a funny yet deeply serious script, His Three Daughters is a poignant film about how fast our loved ones can go. How do we make peace with our family when there's so much friction? It's almost impossible to let go of our baggage, but we must in order to move on. When we reach our final days, we don't want animosity to keep our family away from us when we're on our deathbed. The evolving relationship between the siblings is highly resonant because it's so relatable. It's one of the most effective films about family I've seen in a while. Let alone one of the best pictures so far this year.
His Three Daughters will be available in select theaters on September 6th and streaming on Netflix on September 20th.
