Your Sister's Sister
A very genuine film packed with smart observations about modern relationships.
Recent film highlights from the American independent scene have tended to stand out for their honest portrayals of contemporary life rather than for breaking new ground in style and form. And so it is with Lynn Shelton’s latest film Your Sister’s Sister, the low key, but very likable, story of Iris (Emily Blunt), her sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) and Iris’ best friend Jack (Mark Duplass) who all find themselves staying in a remote cabin in the San Juan islands off America’s North West coast.
With large parts of the film improvised, the real joy to be found here is in the naturalism of the performances and the frequently funny and believable dialogue. And while the focus is on the characters and the relationships between them, there’s a couple of plot twists thrown in for added satisfaction.
It’s not all perfect – there’s a cheesy montage of Jack miserably cycling around the island accompanied by a bland soundtrack that we could have done without. Fortunately such niggles only slightly distract from what is a very genuine film packed with smart observations about modern relationships.