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Tuesday, June 19, 2012
MOVIE REVIEW
Your Sister's Sister
Buried Alive In The Wilderness Of Human Emotion And Awkwardness
Mark Duplass as Jack, Emily Blunt as Iris and Rosemarie DeWitt as Hannah in Lynn
Shelton's "Your Sister's Sister". IFC Films
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Tuesday, June 19,
2012
Awkwardness is what film director
Lynn Shelton specializes in on the big screen; in her 2009 film "Humpday" it was
in the preparation for a sex encounter between two heterosexual men who dared
each other to bone up. In "Your Sister's Sister", Ms. Shelton's new
comedy-romance-drama which opened last weekend, it's a scene early on that
shatters any notion of manners and protocol following the death of Tom, the
brother of Iris (Emily Blunt).
Jack (Mark Duplass) was best friends with Tom, and had a good friendship with
Iris. To clear his head at Iris's suggestion Jack gets away from the outer
reaches of Seattle to uninhabited areas of the Pacific Northwest to a cabin to
have some time for himself but he's not alone: Iris's sister Hannah (Rosemarie
DeWitt) is unexpectedly inhabiting the cabin. Their awkward encounter
leads to a one night stand, and the discomfort of that episode permeates the
entire film. Lingering like an unwelcome aroma or cheap musk oil or
overkill doses of perfume, it's raw, messy, earthy and subterranean, and the
vast, open backdrop of the Pacific Northwest and its beautiful forestry only
amplifies the situation between Hannah and Jack, making it more palpable and
stark. It is in these large (and small) moments that Mr. Duplass's
improvisational skills are best served -- Jack has quick, amusing answers for
every predicament and philosophical conversation he's involved in -- at least
most of the time.
Iris, who also pays a random visit to the cabin, has the wheels of her mind
turning. She may have a sixth sense about Hannah and Jack, while Hannah,
who has deeper motives and agendas, playfully teeters on the edge of revelation
with her younger sister, whom she's not exactly close to. There's tension
between Iris and Hannah that almost borders on a very strange or different kind
of Oedipal, so to speak, and in emotionally intimate scenes between Hannah and
Iris one can be forgiven for picturing Jack sandwiched in between them.
There are scenes that feel like a lighter more playful Ingmar Bergman drama,
with only the residue of wrenching battles at the outer edges. Ms. Shelton
has a gritty, authentic storytelling style that she augments so well in her
directing, and she like other directors like Nicole Holofcener and
Jennifer
Westfeldt, among others, are excellent writers of human drama and
relationships. They "get it", and so perfectly.
"Your Sister's Sister" is a funny, uncomfortable, haunting film about love,
secrets, longings and aimlessness. The film's greatest moments come from
its own depictions of honesty, anticipation and awkwardness. The trio of
main characters have so much turbulence and unresolved matters swirling within
them, and the director, herself a champion of improvised moments, capitalizes
wonderfully on the circumstances that suffocate and galvanize Hannah, Iris and
Jack by providing suspense and drama in lengthy, unbroken shots of plain-spoken
dialogues largely unencumbered by music. Ms. Shelton's cameras are always
on, both fixed and handheld, actively maintaining a realistic atmosphere.
The adults in the film crave the real, even if they have to travel routes of
pretension to attain it. It is this terrain of, and journey in, human
behavior that the actors and director get, and cover so well.
The fun of "Your Sister's Sister" (shot in less than two weeks) is in its
equally quiet and explosive confessionals, balanced by silences that simmer,
percolate and finally burst, like the air from a giant helium balloon.
When the balloon bursts in this film it is refreshing, liberating and adult --
from which comes pure, sincere moments between human beings simply looking to
find their way amidst life's morasses and dilemmas. All three actors are
perfect matches to make Ms. Shelton's sharply and astutely-written story work.
Ms. Blunt, stronger here than in April's
"The
Five-Year Engagement", keeps you guessing about Iris's state of mind.
You feel she knows more than she lets on even if she doesn't show it.
Mr. Duplass adds his usual brand of edginess and brooding angst, but it's Ms.
DeWitt who shines brightest as Hannah, a woman pining for her own sense of peace
and fulfillment, a woman who may not realize how loving or beautiful she is or
can be. Hannah finds a way (one that is slightly unrealistic or
exaggerated for drama's sake) to get attention and commitment, yet it's less a
cry for help than a way to express her vulnerability and fear about what the
future will hold. Like Iris and Jack, Hannah is lonely in the cabin on
Puget Sound but in her desperate, outlandish way she's honest, and that's Ms.
Shelton's bread-and-butter rule.
With:
Mike Birgbiglia.
"Your Sister's Sister" is rated R
by the Motion Picture Association Of America forn language and
some sexual content. The film's
running time is one hour and 30 minutes.
COPYRIGHT 2012. POPCORNREEL.COM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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