His Three Daughters

Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen and Carrie Coon

I'm kind of on the fence about Azazel Jacobs' His Three Daughters which is currently streaming on Netflix. The film is a high concept chamber piece set almost wholly in the apartment of a dying man in the Bronx. One of the titular daughters, played by Natasha Lyonne, has been living with her father and caring for him for years. Now that the end is nigh, the other two daughters, both living in tonier circumstances, temporarily move in to assist and bear witness to their old man's passing. The film follows a shopworn formula. The differing siblings clash and hash out old grievances, but, ultimately, bond over their shared grief and reach a greater understanding of each other. I found the overall concept hackneyed. In a less than generous moment, I retitled the film The Odd Throuple with Lyonne in the Oscar role, Carrie Coon as the fussy Felix, and Elizabeth Olsen as Mountain Girl. 

Still, despite the predictability of the plot, I was never bored by the film. Mostly this was due to the perfect casting and skill of the three leads. As in his previous features, Jacobs gives enough space to his performers within his unfussy mise-en-scene to let their efforts breathe. I also liked the way Jacobs imbued certain objects in the apartment, a recliner and a New York Jets towel to name two, as totems of their departing owner. The triteness of His Three Daughters prevented me from responding to it emotionally, but I cannot deny that the project was skillfully executed.