Wanting to atone for his past actions, The Father targets his adopted children that he trained to be cold-blooded killers. If they want to survive, the children must try to kill their father. (full synopsis after poster)
Main Characters:
Minor Characters:
Other Appearances:
Letterboxd: letterboxd.com/film/the-father-2023/
The Movie Database: www.themoviedb.org/movie/1251745-the-father
Official Playlist: open.spotify.com/playlist/09U7mgyot6JQ1loPdIGIrf?si=d5f2dacef4be4cdf
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For All Individual Scenes, Visit the YouTube Playlist: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQzThjChcc1qcl_euEY5W3nVfxFKGC6zF
Full Synopsis (Spoilers!)
The Father wants to atone for his past sins. His own father, however, tells him that is impossible, since he has so many. The Father kills his father, saying that he is just as much at fault for letting him sin in the first place. He decides that while he cannot atone, he can cease any future sins by ending himself.
The Father previously adopted many children who were in terrible places, training them in his ways of murder, deceit, and evil. His goal was to make them stronger—to give them a place in the world. However, he recognizes that in doing so, he has passed his sin to them. He must kill them before he ends himself if he wants to leave the world as good a place as possible.
The Father gives his children fair warning that he is coming to kill them. Seven of them band together to try to kill him first: The Female, The Anime, The Music, The Lover, The Hype, The Cowboy, and The Death. Their adopted father has given these official titles, which are the names they almost always use. Each loves their father deeply, but they would rather try to survive then let him kill them.
Each of the seven children attempt to find The Father in a different way, but the best they come up with is a rumor: another one of their siblings, The Gamer, has done business with their father in the past. The seven decide to send The Anime to find out more from The Gamer himself.
The Anime and The Gamer have a pungent past. They are sure their rivalry is destined to end in epic style. The Gamer tells The Anime that he wants to remain loyal and die for their father. He says that if The Anime and the others continue to search for their father, he will go to war against them utilizing his fearsome army. The Gamer doesn’t have any information on The Father to start with, and The Anime leaves empty handed, though the tension between the two has only grown.
The Cowboy is shown alone at his house. It’s clear he’s missing something—someone—and that there’s a hole in him that will never be fixed.
Out of leads, The Lover is thinking deeply when The Sadness, another one of The Father’s adopted children, reveals himself. The Sadness says that The Brothers--who have no family relationship to The Father—often visit him on direct orders from The Father.
The Anime dances alone in his anime-themed room. After a good bit of gyrating, he thinks of his siblings, the people he cares about most. He is left with memories of them being annoyed at him.
Now with a promising lead, not to mention the only one, the seven gather to discuss the plan for speaking with The Brothers. Before The Cowboy arrives, The Hype asks if The Brothers were the ones to kill Cowboy’s wife. The answer is made clear, but Hype is reprimanded for speaking it aloud, since they have kept the information hidden from The Cowboy. If he were to find out, he would likely kill The Brothers, thus removing their lead.
During this, The Death notices that The Cowboy is hiding on the other side of a wall, listening to everything. Cowboy notices Death, and they share a look, though they say nothing. The Cowboy enters and acts as if everything is normal. When he leaves, Death goes to follow. He tries to dissuade Cowboy from his path, saying he will have to kill him if he goes after the two. The Cowboy promises that he won’t and exits.
As the night lengthens, The Cowboy ruminates over what to do. Eventually, he enters The Brothers’ club, offering to play a game of poker against them. The two brothers accept, thinking nothing was off, and they deal him a hand. Tension building, The Cowboy ultimately pulls out his guns and shoots both The Brothers, killing them. He escapes the club, leaving the siblings sole lead dead.
The Death finds The Cowboy outside his house. Cowboy thanks Death for letting him go the night before. Finally at peace, The Cowboy closes his eyes. The Death fires, killing his best friend.
The Lover and The Female have a conversation about the romantic tension between them. The Female says she only wants to be friends, and The Lover agrees to her request. The scene ends with wide smiles on both of their faces.
The Gamer and The Anime meet. The Gamer officially declares war against Anime, since he has not stopped searching for The Father. Anime says he will meet The Gamer on the battlefield. They part ways, now with the six remaining children in need of an army. While The Hype has a force of horse people behind him, the other five siblings agree he is not strong enough alone, to his irritation. The Anime offers assistance, telling them he has an in with another army he could try to convince to fight. The siblings agree with Anime's plan.
The Anime goes to the grand home of the beards, led by the white-whiskered Big Daddy. The Anime tries his best to persuade Big Daddy to lend his beards to the cause, but Big Daddy is not easily convinced, especially since The Hype will be fighting beside them. However, The Anime says they will all be in debt to him, and Big Daddy seems to like that idea.
Enter three new characters: a man in a masquerade mask, a plague doctor, and an armored person. The three discuss the future beyond The Father’s death. The underworld recognizes The Father’s dominant rule will come to end soon, and so the vast territories The Father leaves behind will be up for the taking. The three make an alliance to fight for control over these territories.
While The Anime is off getting reinforcements, The Hype chooses to go after The Gamer alone. Armed with two guns, a caped shield across his back, and a good deal of horse people, he attacks The Gamer’s headquarters. Hype is practically demolished at every turn. He finally manages to get into The Gamer’s main building but is trapped once inside. Even a rousing speech does nothing to better his situation, and he ends up stuck in a room with only one way out, and Gamer’s forces pointing guns on the other side.
All hope seems lost until the back of a kimono reveals that The Anime has made his way to the battle. Alongside him are the powerful army of the Bearded. They take on The Gamer’s minions headfirst, and alongside the combined power of The Anime, they easily dispatch The Gamer’s remaining forces. The Anime rescues The Hype and goes to look for The Gamer. The two rivals meet in a hallway, where The Gamer tells Anime to come and get him.
The Music is bobbing at some undefined place. A person invites him to a game of chess, which is answered with The Music’s usual silence (he does not speak). The Music defeats the man at the game, and the guy is so impressed he brings another person to challenge Music. The cycle continues, Music defeating opponent after opponent. He eventually leaves the scene of absolute demolishment, going to the bathroom and staring silently at himself in the mirror.
The Anime enters a giant room where The Gamer awaits him, two guns in hand. They both agree that the conclusion of their rivalry would be here. The Anime draws his sword, and The Gamer shoots. They battle it out for some time, but while The Anime can block The Gamer’s bullets, he can’t make progress with how fast the other fires. He ducks behind cover, giving himself a moment to breathe. The Gamer celebrates, thinking The Anime has no chance at defeating him since he uses a blade.
The Anime is not done yet, though. He steels himself, then charges out of his hiding place at full speed. The Gamer fires, lighting up The Anime with bullets. However, Anime swerves just enough that the bullets don’t instantly kill him. This allows him to reach The Gamer and make the final strike with his sword. The Gamer falls.
The Anime is also terribly wounded. He flashes back to when he and The Father had a conversation over his siblings. The Father questions why The Anime is so loyal to them when they show no love toward him. Anime says that love does not have to be reciprocated. In the present, The Anime dies.
The Hype is exploring the premises when he suddenly comes face to face with The Father. The Father asks Hype about the horse he had when he was younger. The Hype says he was never good at riding the horse. He looks away briefly, and when he flicks back, The Father is gone. Confused, The Hype runs out to check for his adopted father, but he does not see him.
The Father approaches the area where The Anime and Gamer perished. He reaches down and picks up The Anime’s sword and scabbard. Sitting, he looks at the blade before sheathing it one final time.
With two of their seven down, the siblings decide they need more manpower. While they are unsure how many of their other siblings are left standing, the five decide to try to contact as many as they can to see if they would join them. The first is The Fat, an overweight model who was eagerly waiting for a message from them. The passionate Sophisticated is the second, and the cultured TV is the third.
The Lover and Female are enjoying their time together. It appears as if their relationship has begun to move beyond friendship, a fact that is confirmed when they converse at their house. When The Lover is pouring them drinks, he looks toward The Female to see The Father standing next to her, gun pointed at her head. He calls out, directing The Father’s attention to him. The Father shoots, striking him. The Female stands, looking for the danger. The Father is already gone.
The Female rushes to The Lover. Lover is fading quickly, and Female begs him not to go. His last words profess his undying love for her. The Female is heartbroken. The Father is shown behind her, gun pointed. The gun lowers, but then is thrust back up. It cuts to black before anything is shown.
The Death and The Hype are together at their chosen base while they wait for their father to come. They think it odd for The Female and Lover to not have joined them yet, but they have no way to find out where the two are. The Sadness enters to ask them for more toilet paper to dry his tears. The Death answers, and then abruptly the lights go out. When the lights turn back on a few seconds later, The Sadness is holding his side. He thanks Hype and Death for inviting him, then falls to the ground, dead. Death realizes it must have been The Father and pulls out his gun.
Elsewhere, The Fat is consuming copious amounts of food when he suddenly feels he is being watched. Turning, he is confronted with The Father, who shoots and kills him. The Sophisticated is flipping through a notebook when he notices The Father is there. Though he leaps to safety, he opts to try to plead to his father, dropping his gun and rising to face him with his hands in the air. The Father shoots without hesitation. The TV, hearing gunshots, rushes to aid the others. As he’s running, though, The Father steps out of a room and shoots him.
Though the goal of the building was to keep all the siblings together so they would have the numerical advantage against The Father, the plan failed terribly. The Hype, Music, and Death—the only remaining siblings—traverse the area alone, searching for The Father. The Death eventually enters a large horse arena, and The Father is before him. The Music and Hype enter through one of the upper doors and view the situation from the stands. They decide to wait to see what happens.
Guns pointed, The Death and Father stare each other down. The Death tells The Father that what he is doing is wrong. He and the other children are not products of The Father, but that he was merely an influence. The Death is who he is because that’s what he wants to be, not because that’s what The Father has made him into. The Death finishes by lowering his gun and saying that he will allow The Father to shoot him, but he will know it is in his own sin.
The Father drops his gun. He agrees with Death, saying that he will let his adopted son shoot him dead there and then. The Death is shocked. He hesitates as The Father watches, unarmed and unmoving. Death puts his gun away, saying he cannot do it. The Father falls on his knees. The Father says if Death had been what he thought, then Death would’ve shot him.
A gunshot sounds. The Father is hit and killed, and he falls to the side. The Death turns. The Music is lowering his gun, having fired the shot that killed The Father. Death points his own gun, screaming Music’s name and firing at his brother. The Hype leaps in the way, taking the bullet and saving Music’s life. The Death drops his gun, shocked at his own actions. He repeatedly apologizes to Music. The Music starts to wildly fire back at Death, forcing Death to run and leave the arena. The Music puts a hand to his face as if to hold back vomit.
The Death sits against a wall, still apologizing to Music. The camera slowly zooms on in him. Credits roll.
There are two post-credit scenes in the film. The first of the two shows a man in the same mask as The Father, only white. He is being held in a prison. That is, until the news of The Father’s death, which he takes as reason to stab the prison guard and escape.
The second post-credits scene reveals what happened to one of The Hype’s horse peoples: specifically Horse 270. Becoming a fearsome bounty hunter, he conducts donuts while on a lawnmower.
That's all.
The Father previously adopted many children who were in terrible places, training them in his ways of murder, deceit, and evil. His goal was to make them stronger—to give them a place in the world. However, he recognizes that in doing so, he has passed his sin to them. He must kill them before he ends himself if he wants to leave the world as good a place as possible.
The Father gives his children fair warning that he is coming to kill them. Seven of them band together to try to kill him first: The Female, The Anime, The Music, The Lover, The Hype, The Cowboy, and The Death. Their adopted father has given these official titles, which are the names they almost always use. Each loves their father deeply, but they would rather try to survive then let him kill them.
Each of the seven children attempt to find The Father in a different way, but the best they come up with is a rumor: another one of their siblings, The Gamer, has done business with their father in the past. The seven decide to send The Anime to find out more from The Gamer himself.
The Anime and The Gamer have a pungent past. They are sure their rivalry is destined to end in epic style. The Gamer tells The Anime that he wants to remain loyal and die for their father. He says that if The Anime and the others continue to search for their father, he will go to war against them utilizing his fearsome army. The Gamer doesn’t have any information on The Father to start with, and The Anime leaves empty handed, though the tension between the two has only grown.
The Cowboy is shown alone at his house. It’s clear he’s missing something—someone—and that there’s a hole in him that will never be fixed.
Out of leads, The Lover is thinking deeply when The Sadness, another one of The Father’s adopted children, reveals himself. The Sadness says that The Brothers--who have no family relationship to The Father—often visit him on direct orders from The Father.
The Anime dances alone in his anime-themed room. After a good bit of gyrating, he thinks of his siblings, the people he cares about most. He is left with memories of them being annoyed at him.
Now with a promising lead, not to mention the only one, the seven gather to discuss the plan for speaking with The Brothers. Before The Cowboy arrives, The Hype asks if The Brothers were the ones to kill Cowboy’s wife. The answer is made clear, but Hype is reprimanded for speaking it aloud, since they have kept the information hidden from The Cowboy. If he were to find out, he would likely kill The Brothers, thus removing their lead.
During this, The Death notices that The Cowboy is hiding on the other side of a wall, listening to everything. Cowboy notices Death, and they share a look, though they say nothing. The Cowboy enters and acts as if everything is normal. When he leaves, Death goes to follow. He tries to dissuade Cowboy from his path, saying he will have to kill him if he goes after the two. The Cowboy promises that he won’t and exits.
As the night lengthens, The Cowboy ruminates over what to do. Eventually, he enters The Brothers’ club, offering to play a game of poker against them. The two brothers accept, thinking nothing was off, and they deal him a hand. Tension building, The Cowboy ultimately pulls out his guns and shoots both The Brothers, killing them. He escapes the club, leaving the siblings sole lead dead.
The Death finds The Cowboy outside his house. Cowboy thanks Death for letting him go the night before. Finally at peace, The Cowboy closes his eyes. The Death fires, killing his best friend.
The Lover and The Female have a conversation about the romantic tension between them. The Female says she only wants to be friends, and The Lover agrees to her request. The scene ends with wide smiles on both of their faces.
The Gamer and The Anime meet. The Gamer officially declares war against Anime, since he has not stopped searching for The Father. Anime says he will meet The Gamer on the battlefield. They part ways, now with the six remaining children in need of an army. While The Hype has a force of horse people behind him, the other five siblings agree he is not strong enough alone, to his irritation. The Anime offers assistance, telling them he has an in with another army he could try to convince to fight. The siblings agree with Anime's plan.
The Anime goes to the grand home of the beards, led by the white-whiskered Big Daddy. The Anime tries his best to persuade Big Daddy to lend his beards to the cause, but Big Daddy is not easily convinced, especially since The Hype will be fighting beside them. However, The Anime says they will all be in debt to him, and Big Daddy seems to like that idea.
Enter three new characters: a man in a masquerade mask, a plague doctor, and an armored person. The three discuss the future beyond The Father’s death. The underworld recognizes The Father’s dominant rule will come to end soon, and so the vast territories The Father leaves behind will be up for the taking. The three make an alliance to fight for control over these territories.
While The Anime is off getting reinforcements, The Hype chooses to go after The Gamer alone. Armed with two guns, a caped shield across his back, and a good deal of horse people, he attacks The Gamer’s headquarters. Hype is practically demolished at every turn. He finally manages to get into The Gamer’s main building but is trapped once inside. Even a rousing speech does nothing to better his situation, and he ends up stuck in a room with only one way out, and Gamer’s forces pointing guns on the other side.
All hope seems lost until the back of a kimono reveals that The Anime has made his way to the battle. Alongside him are the powerful army of the Bearded. They take on The Gamer’s minions headfirst, and alongside the combined power of The Anime, they easily dispatch The Gamer’s remaining forces. The Anime rescues The Hype and goes to look for The Gamer. The two rivals meet in a hallway, where The Gamer tells Anime to come and get him.
The Music is bobbing at some undefined place. A person invites him to a game of chess, which is answered with The Music’s usual silence (he does not speak). The Music defeats the man at the game, and the guy is so impressed he brings another person to challenge Music. The cycle continues, Music defeating opponent after opponent. He eventually leaves the scene of absolute demolishment, going to the bathroom and staring silently at himself in the mirror.
The Anime enters a giant room where The Gamer awaits him, two guns in hand. They both agree that the conclusion of their rivalry would be here. The Anime draws his sword, and The Gamer shoots. They battle it out for some time, but while The Anime can block The Gamer’s bullets, he can’t make progress with how fast the other fires. He ducks behind cover, giving himself a moment to breathe. The Gamer celebrates, thinking The Anime has no chance at defeating him since he uses a blade.
The Anime is not done yet, though. He steels himself, then charges out of his hiding place at full speed. The Gamer fires, lighting up The Anime with bullets. However, Anime swerves just enough that the bullets don’t instantly kill him. This allows him to reach The Gamer and make the final strike with his sword. The Gamer falls.
The Anime is also terribly wounded. He flashes back to when he and The Father had a conversation over his siblings. The Father questions why The Anime is so loyal to them when they show no love toward him. Anime says that love does not have to be reciprocated. In the present, The Anime dies.
The Hype is exploring the premises when he suddenly comes face to face with The Father. The Father asks Hype about the horse he had when he was younger. The Hype says he was never good at riding the horse. He looks away briefly, and when he flicks back, The Father is gone. Confused, The Hype runs out to check for his adopted father, but he does not see him.
The Father approaches the area where The Anime and Gamer perished. He reaches down and picks up The Anime’s sword and scabbard. Sitting, he looks at the blade before sheathing it one final time.
With two of their seven down, the siblings decide they need more manpower. While they are unsure how many of their other siblings are left standing, the five decide to try to contact as many as they can to see if they would join them. The first is The Fat, an overweight model who was eagerly waiting for a message from them. The passionate Sophisticated is the second, and the cultured TV is the third.
The Lover and Female are enjoying their time together. It appears as if their relationship has begun to move beyond friendship, a fact that is confirmed when they converse at their house. When The Lover is pouring them drinks, he looks toward The Female to see The Father standing next to her, gun pointed at her head. He calls out, directing The Father’s attention to him. The Father shoots, striking him. The Female stands, looking for the danger. The Father is already gone.
The Female rushes to The Lover. Lover is fading quickly, and Female begs him not to go. His last words profess his undying love for her. The Female is heartbroken. The Father is shown behind her, gun pointed. The gun lowers, but then is thrust back up. It cuts to black before anything is shown.
The Death and The Hype are together at their chosen base while they wait for their father to come. They think it odd for The Female and Lover to not have joined them yet, but they have no way to find out where the two are. The Sadness enters to ask them for more toilet paper to dry his tears. The Death answers, and then abruptly the lights go out. When the lights turn back on a few seconds later, The Sadness is holding his side. He thanks Hype and Death for inviting him, then falls to the ground, dead. Death realizes it must have been The Father and pulls out his gun.
Elsewhere, The Fat is consuming copious amounts of food when he suddenly feels he is being watched. Turning, he is confronted with The Father, who shoots and kills him. The Sophisticated is flipping through a notebook when he notices The Father is there. Though he leaps to safety, he opts to try to plead to his father, dropping his gun and rising to face him with his hands in the air. The Father shoots without hesitation. The TV, hearing gunshots, rushes to aid the others. As he’s running, though, The Father steps out of a room and shoots him.
Though the goal of the building was to keep all the siblings together so they would have the numerical advantage against The Father, the plan failed terribly. The Hype, Music, and Death—the only remaining siblings—traverse the area alone, searching for The Father. The Death eventually enters a large horse arena, and The Father is before him. The Music and Hype enter through one of the upper doors and view the situation from the stands. They decide to wait to see what happens.
Guns pointed, The Death and Father stare each other down. The Death tells The Father that what he is doing is wrong. He and the other children are not products of The Father, but that he was merely an influence. The Death is who he is because that’s what he wants to be, not because that’s what The Father has made him into. The Death finishes by lowering his gun and saying that he will allow The Father to shoot him, but he will know it is in his own sin.
The Father drops his gun. He agrees with Death, saying that he will let his adopted son shoot him dead there and then. The Death is shocked. He hesitates as The Father watches, unarmed and unmoving. Death puts his gun away, saying he cannot do it. The Father falls on his knees. The Father says if Death had been what he thought, then Death would’ve shot him.
A gunshot sounds. The Father is hit and killed, and he falls to the side. The Death turns. The Music is lowering his gun, having fired the shot that killed The Father. Death points his own gun, screaming Music’s name and firing at his brother. The Hype leaps in the way, taking the bullet and saving Music’s life. The Death drops his gun, shocked at his own actions. He repeatedly apologizes to Music. The Music starts to wildly fire back at Death, forcing Death to run and leave the arena. The Music puts a hand to his face as if to hold back vomit.
The Death sits against a wall, still apologizing to Music. The camera slowly zooms on in him. Credits roll.
There are two post-credit scenes in the film. The first of the two shows a man in the same mask as The Father, only white. He is being held in a prison. That is, until the news of The Father’s death, which he takes as reason to stab the prison guard and escape.
The second post-credits scene reveals what happened to one of The Hype’s horse peoples: specifically Horse 270. Becoming a fearsome bounty hunter, he conducts donuts while on a lawnmower.
That's all.