Emotional performances anchor “His Three Daughters”

Some of the best movies I have seen could have been plays. These are movies with a few characters, usually in one location, and heavily focused on the characters. Think about movies like "The Breakfast Club." It takes place during a Saturday detention, and the characters get to know one another better and grow and change during those hours together. "His Three Daughters" is a movie I would love to see on stage.

When their father is on his deathbed, three women (Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne, and Elizabeth Olson) spend time together in his small New York City apartment, waiting for the end to come.

Coon, Lyonne, and Olson deliver Oscar-worthy performances here, and I don't know which one I loved more. As someone who has spent years seeing her as Wanda Maximoff, aka The Scarlet Witch, in countless MCU movies, I find it great to see Olson in something different. She is the youngest of the three, moved the furthest away, and is the step-sister of the other two. She always felt like an outsider in the family because of that. When the other two moved away, he was her and her dad.

There is clearly a lot of history between these three characters, but the movie never gets bogged down in exposition dumps. There are movies with much simpler backstories that have very clunky exposition scenes/lines. These three women are estranged, but as they care for their father, they become closer and understand one another on a deeper level.

"His Three Daughters" is a character piece with three incredible performances. There are not many movies I feel like I can easily recommend to anyone, but this movie is one of them.

"His Three Daughters" is on Netflix

9/10

Rated R for language and drug use

1h 41m