It’s a pity Lynn Shelton hates the term “mumblecore”, because she’s fast on the road to becoming its Queen. Following the critical success of her 2009 film Humpday, Shelton returns with another character-driven drama that’s light on plot and heavy on both dialogue and charm.
Set on the beautifully shot, misty greens of an off-Seattle island, Your Sister’s Sister sees Jack (Shelton’s frequent collaborator Mark Duplass) retreat to friend Iris’ (Emily Blunt) holiday home in order to mourn his brother and clear his head. But when he arrives, Iris’ lesbian sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) is there. Tequila is drunk, sob stories are shared, sex is had, Iris arrives and true feelings are realised – but has the damage been done?
Bearing an intriguingly simplistic premise, this tale of an almost-love triangle unfolds into something quietly, comically beautiful. Taking a leaf out of Mike Leigh’s book, Shelton had the cast and crew live together during the shoot, and the actors improvised as much as possible, resulting in a tremendously fresh authenticity. The naturalistic ebb and flow of conversation is heightened by one-liners delivered slightly off-beat, seemingly irrelevant tangents and jokes so off-the-cuff you can see the actors genuinely crying with laughter – or heartbreak. Grand gestures and dramatic moments are punctuated by moments of believable awkwardness and insecurity, so that grieving brothers lash out, giving eulogies that are uncomfortably honest and laden with mixed emotions. And when men walk out on the women they love, their steps aren’t met with silence and a single tear artistically streaming down a still, beautiful face. Instead we get a wobbly-lipped Emily Blunt, wearing a knitted hat that makes her look like the littlest, loneliest elf, desperately squeaking, “Are you coming back?”
It’s these moments of vulnerability that allow both Shelton’s direction and the cast’s talent to truly shine, and together they masterfully handle the delicate themes of sexuality, loneliness, loss, family, and the almost-incestuous taboo of loving the sibling of a lover.
Though the convoluted, overly-dramatic ending fails to gel with the sweet subtlety of the opening and middle acts, the support and love shown by the irresistibly likeable cast carries this sweet, if slight film through.