Your
Sister’s Sister
After
acting like a drunk, whiny, 30-something, adolescent slacker at the anniversary
of his brother’s death, drunk, whiny, 30-something, adolescent slacker Jack
(Mumblecore poster boy Mark Duplass) is packed off to the idyllic, Pacific
Northwestern island retreat of best friend and unrequited love Iris (Emily
Blunt)
where he can, like, chill out and get his head together, man.
Arriving
at Iris’ cabin in the middle of the night he meets her lesbian sister Hannah (Rosemarie
DeWitt), still
raw from the recent end of her 7-year relationship, who has escaped to the
island with much the same idea.
Drinking and soul-baring ensue and one bottle of tequila later the two
are having drunken, awkward, forgettable sex. When Iris turns up the next morning intent on revealing her
feelings for Jack, the panicked pair pretend nothing happened between them the
night before. But secrets have a
way of coming out…
How
much you like Your Sister’s Sister may well depend on how much you like
the whiny, self-indulgent, bourgeois films of the Mumblecore movement. Characterised by low production values,
improvised performances and largely amateur actors, Mumblecore emerged on the
American Indie scene in the early 2000s where it was championed by the Sundance
and South By Southwest film festivals.
And if you like films where whiny, middle class, 30-something, white
people talk endlessly about how they feel in a naturalistic fashion, it’s
definitely the movement for you despite it being about as close to reality and
as contrived as any saccharine-sweet Hollywood rom-com. Say what you like about 27 Dresses or The Wedding Planner but at least they’re
consistently funny and aren’t full of whiny, middle class 30-somethings
endlessly telling you how they feel.
With
Your Sister’s Sister however, Mumblecore has grown up a bit. Engaging and funny, Shelton’s loose,
semi-improvised film stands or falls by its three actors and while Duplass is
essentially playing the same genial, amusing, hangdog slacker doofus he always
plays (HIMSELF!), Blunt and DeWitt are wonderful, effortlessly convincing as
sisters despite their obviously different accents. Blunt’s warm, luminous presence is complimented by DeWitt’s
dry, brittleness and watching these two connect is joyous.
Nothing
much happens. Or everything
happens. Kinda depends on what you
bring with you to the film.
Tender,
sweet and gently amusing, Your Sister’s Sister is an amiable way to spend 90 minutes.
David Watson
Written
and Directed by:
Produced
by:
Starring:
Genres:
Language:
English
Runtime:
1
hour 30 minutes
Certificate:
15
Rating:
3/5
No comments:
Post a Comment