During his early morning walks, American film-maker and scriptwriter Azazel Jacobs likes to jot down random ideas in his notebook, often inspired by what he sees around him. When he moved from Los Angeles to his native New York at the height of the pandemic to be close to his parents, Jacobs recalls that “stepping out, just getting air and catching these glimpses of life was intoxicating”. Jacobs, 52, and his wife, Diaz, an actor/producer, had lived in LA for more than 20 years.
Going through the experience “of this thing with my folks”, who were increasingly in need of his support, also affected his writing on those pandemic walks, he says. “I was writing different ideas that felt like different stories. And then in one of those kinds of fevered dreams I realised they were three different sisters, who could be conjoined under one roof.
” Azazel Jacobs at a screening of His Three Daughters this month in New York Photo: Getty They evolved into , Jacobs’ latest film – a perceptive, raw and often funny family drama about memory, grief and the absurdities of waiting for a parent to die. Set over three and a half days, three estranged sisters gather in their ailing father’s small New York apartment to be with him in his final days and try to plan for the inevitable. While he remains (largely) hidden from view, each woman has a different way of coping with the situation.
Katie (Carrie Coon), the eldest sibling, is a controlling Brooklyn mother dealing with a challe.