Your Sister's Sister

          Lynn Shelton wrote and directed this sentimental dramedy about an unlikely love triangle between a guy and two sisters. The guy, Jack (Mark Duplass), is best friends with Iris (Emily Blunt). After a year of suffering from the loss of his beloved brother, Jack is sent to Iris's family's supposedly-empty house on an island to reevaluate his life. When he gets there, he finds Iris's sister, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), there for the same reason. Despite her being a lesbian, they have a one-night stand. The next morning, Iris unexpectedly shows up. Tension ensues.

          The dialogue carries this movie. Shelton inventively organizes the characters' conversations to reveal the truth and regulate the pace of the plot, which mainly takes place in a few settings that rotate. Each time we see a certain place, for example the bed Iris sleeps in with Hannah, their relationship has changed in some shape or form. The relationships ebb and flow as the plot approaches its climax. Of course most movies quicken as they reach their climaxes, but this is one of the few whose dialogue controls that change in pace. The three primary characters' increasing reluctance to share the truth with each other results in a barrier that begs to be broken. The juxtaposition of the witty lines of dialogue with the characters' emotions really is remarkable.

          With a good script, one needs good actors to give the words justice. That paradigm is met in Your Sister's Sister. Mark Duplass, who was also very good in Safety Not Guaranteed, is deep as Jack. The sisters are both good, but DeWitt is noticeably superior to Blunt. The chemistry among the three is comparable to that of the actors in The Kids Are All Right from 2010, a year before this movie's release. In fact, fans of The Kids Are All Right would find a whole lot to love about Your Sister's Sister in almost every possible way. 

          A spoiler-free word on the ending: it was okay. Normally I like the choose-your-own-ending-from-these-possibilities-because-the-ultimate-outcome-for-each-is-the-same deal, but in this case, I would have liked just one more line of great dialogue to narrow down the outcomes. This would have kept the esoteric quality Shelton was obviously striving for, yet it would have also ended the story enough so that we wouldn't feel gypped. After all, the whole movie up to this point had been driven by the words spoken, so why stop now?

          Great dialogue, a great story; what more can we want from an indie dramedy? I must admit it got a bit sappy at times, but it does not have the artificial quality of most chick flicks. The sentiment of this movie is real, and I think most of you would enjoy it.

Update: Once again, I forgot to mention the music. It underscored some of the tension and relief perfectly in particular moments, especially in a longer sequence toward the end. At the same time, for a movie with a lot of emotional tension, the music often did not provide much relief. This was nice and refreshing. It forced you to deal with the pain directly rather than set you free.