COMIC DRAMA;1hr 30min
STARRING: Emily Blunt, Rosemary DeWitt, Mark Duplass
Yep, three's a crowd: from left, Duplass, Blunt and DeWitt
Film-maker Lynn Shelton keeps the framework tight in her three-hander Your Sister’s Sister, the better to gradually unearth the characters’ misconceptions and needs. Eaten by grief and remorse a year after his brother’s death, Jack is sent by his best friend Iris (Blunt) for some R&R in her father’s woodsy cabin. His quest for a solitary stocktake doesn’t pan out that way, however, with Iris’s sister, Hannah (DeWitt), and her tequila bottle unexpectedly in residence after the break-up of her seven-year relationship.
So, yes, this one is talky-talky. Tequila shots have a habit of unlocking mouths and doors, and Jack and Hannah have plenty of self-revelatory things to say. There’s some first-night action, too, then when Iris shows up unannounced, everyone hits a sliding scale of immediately relatable, crisply acted and massively yet seamlessly improvised, and that’s totally a compliment. For such a downscaled setting — one woodsy cabin, three stickily tangled webs — the emotional heft is intricate and condensed, like a multilayered dish that grows richer as you dig.
