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Director Lynn Shelton is best known for her part in the mumblecore movement, directing improvised, low-budget films like 2009’s awkward but amusing Humpday. Throughout the last few years, these off-the-cuff indies have been all the rage, but the movement’s generally rambling, often uncomfortable films (like the Duplass brothers’ Baghead) never completely worked for me—or at least not until I caught Shelton’s effortless new improvised offering, Your Sister’s Sister, at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.
Shelton’s fellow mumblecore director (and Humpday star) Mark Duplass is Jack, a forlorn young man whose life fell apart when his brother, Tom, died a year ago. Concerned about Jack’s wellbeing, his best friend (and Tom’s ex-girlfriend), Iris (Emily Blunt), sends him away to her father’s secluded cabin to find himself back. Once he arrives, though, he finds that he’s not alone. Iris’s older sister, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), is also at the cabin, recovering from a break-up.
The lonely duo’s awkward introduction becomes more awkward with some help from a bottle of tequila. And things get even more complicated when Iris arrives the next morning.
From the film’s first scenes, it’s obvious that this isn’t just another clumsy, rambling mumblecore project. Everything just feels more put together. The improvised lines feel pure and genuine, the characters are well developed, and even the cinematography is crisp and clear. As a result, Your Sister’s Sister feels like an actual film, with real characters and a real story—not just a film school experiment, filmed with a Handycam by some kids from class one Saturday afternoon.
Still, like most mumblecore-style films, Your Sister’s Sister is extremely chatty. There’s a whole lot of talk and not a lot of action—yet there’s nothing dull about it. Instead, the conversations are captivating and delightfully entertaining, thanks to the small but remarkably talented cast and crew.
With traditional Hollywood actresses like Blunt and DeWitt in two of the three main roles, the improvisation could have gone horribly wrong. Fortunately, though, both actresses do an outstanding job of delivering their lines naturally and comfortably, neither clamming up nor rambling on too long. In fact (as their more improv-experienced co-star pointed out during a post-screening Q&A at the Toronto International Film Festival), their natural performances give Duplass an extra boost, too. The mumblecore veteran gives his best performance yet, reining in his rambling to make Jack sweet and funny and lovably awkward—not just a bumbling, babbling idiot.
With Your Sister’s Sister, Shelton achieves what mumblecore films seek to accomplish but rarely do: she creates a film that feels both real and cohesive. Even more than just a successful mumblecore film, though, Your Sister’s Sister is an all-around success. The cast has great chemistry, and their improvised lines reveal plenty of twists and surprises to tell a story that’s funny and emotional and realistically messed-up.
Blu-ray Review:
Unfortunately, the Blu-ray release of Lynn Shelton’s charming mumblecore rom-com, Your Sister’s Sister, isn’t exactly feature-filled. In fact, the disc doesn’t even have a special features menu—so you’ll have to dig through the settings to find the included commentary tracks.
It definitely would have been worth including some decent-quality footage from the post-screening Q&As at the Toronto Film Festival—because the one I attended was definitely enlightening. Of course, you’ll get some of the same insights from the film’s pair of commentary tracks—one with Shelton and Duplass, the other with Shelton, her DP, production designer, composer, and gaffer. You’ll just have to invest a little more of your time.
