Fractured Families

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The Fractured Families of Is This Thing On? and Father Mother Sister Brother

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By Ben Elliott

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Relationships don’t end with a bang, but with a whimper

That’s the argument being made in Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? and Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, two new comedic dramas coming to The Triplex this week.

Cooper begins at the end of Alex (co-writer Will Arnett) and Tess’ (Laura Dern) 20-year marriage in Is This Thing On?, introducing us to the couple as they quietly decide to call it quits during their morning bathroom routine. It’s not quite the end it seems, though: Tess rediscovers her calling in sports and coaching, Alex finds a spark in New York’s stand-up comedy scene, and the two are forced to confront their future as co-parents while engaging with their passions.

Two friends chasing floating legs in a red room from House, 1977

Is this Thing On? 2025

Where Cooper is focused on the way forward for his characters, Jarmusch looks back, presenting a triptych of fractured families living with the weight of the past. Tom Waits plays a father hiding away from his adult children (Adam Driver and Mayim Bialik). Charlotte Rampling is a brutally honest mother who sees her daughters (Cate Blanchett and Vicky Krieps) just once a year for tea. In the film’s final chapter, two grown siblings (Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat) reunite in the empty spaces left behind by their recently deceased parents.

A young woman holding a severed head in House, 1977

Father Mother Sister Brother, 2025

Father Mother Sister Brother watches as its characters learn to live with the silence that has settled into their lives, holding onto their bonds even as the people they love become harder to recognize. Is This Thing On?, instead, is about choosing to break that silence — first in front of strangers, and finally with the people that truly matter.

Showtimes

Showtimes Marty Supreme | 1:15PM, 4:45PM, 8:15PM Father Mother Sister Brother | 1:45PM, 4:30PM, 7:45PM Song Sung Blue | 2:00PM, 5:00PM, 8:00PM Is This Thing On? | 2:30PM, 5:30PM, 8:30PM

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