Review: Your Sister's Sister

Already in limited release, Your Sister's Sister opens wide this week. This charming comedy written and directed by Lynn Shelton, like her previous film Humpday, tackles an unconventional sexual situation.

Jack (Mark Duplass) is unemployed and lacks direction in life. Frustration at the untimely death of his brother Tom and life in general prompts an angry outburst at the group of friends gathered for a wake. Consoling him, best friend and brother's partner Iris (Emily Blunt) tells him to spend some time at her father's island cabin. There, with no TV, no phone and no distractions, he'll be able to clear his head and find a renewed sense of purpose.

Jack bikes out to the island (taking a ferry) and arrives to find the cabin is already occupied by Iris's sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), a lesbian who has just ended her seven-year relationship and plans to drink her cares away. Together, they empty a bottle of tequila, and after Jack confesses his attraction Hannah agrees to sleep with him.  When Iris arrives the next morning, the stage is set for the eventual revelations that all three have been keeping secrets from each other.

With only a 70-page script, the dialogue in Your Sister's Sister was largely improvised, giving it a natural and believable feel. The movie was shot in 12 days in Seattle, and the camera frequently cuts to stunning swaths of Washington landscape. With its extremely small cast of characters and limited number of locations, and clocking only about 90 minutes, this would have worked quite well as a stage play.  

With that abbreviated script, Shelton foregoes many details, resulting in characters with amorphous backgrounds. By the end of the film we still know almost nothing about Jack except that he's unemployed, lacks direction in life, and likes to cook. Hannah's occupation and Iris's exact relation to Jack's brother Tom are likewise unclear. As with a watercolor painting, the details are less important than the general impressions, and though we know little of the characters' backstories, they are no less believable. They are caught up in a mutual turning point in their lives, and we are in it with them.

If I had to make a complaint it would only be that for a very funny comedy-drama, Your Sister's Sister makes very poor use of comedian Mike Birbiglia. His brief appearance as Tom's friend Al at the wake with barely two lines is so generic any actor could have filled the role. Otherwise, Your Sister's Sister is a charming, funny and lovely diversion into an unlikely reality.