Your Sister’s Sister DVD
Relationships with siblings and best friends can be difficult at the best of times but what happens when these bonds are really put to the test?
Relationships with siblings and best
friends can be difficult at the best of times but what happens when these bonds
are really put to the test? Romantic indie comedy, Your
Sister’s Sister considers this with the help of a less than average love
triangle.
A group of
friends get together on the one-year anniversary of the death of their friend,
Tom. After a bit of a social
outburst, it becomes clear that Tom’s brother, Jack (Mark Duplass), is struggling with his loss. His best mate (and Tom’s girlfriend)
Iris (Emily Blunt) attempts to ease
his pain by sending him to her father’s quiet, isolated island cabin for some
rest and recuperation. However,
upon his arrival at the cabin, Jack meets Iris’s sister, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) who is hiding out after a bad break up with her long-term girlfriend. After one too many tequilas and despite
the fact that Hannah is gay, the two embark on a one-night stand. But when Iris arrives the following
day, can they hide their guilty secret and can Jack and Iris conceal their true
feelings for each other?
Playing out
a little like a theatre play with powerful dialogue, Your
Sister’s Sister is fly-on-the-wall drama with a hint of Mike Leigh that draws you in to every feeling of awkwardness and every
heartfelt moment. The three actors
hold the action superbly through strong performances and improvisation. Despite a major over-use of the word
‘like’ in conversations (you will understand when you watch it), they have an
excellent chemistry together and bring something real to a bit of a bizarre
plotline. Writer/director Lynn Shelton reunites with Duplass
after 2009 comedy Humpday. It is easy to empathise with Duplass as
Jack: loveable and hilarious, but
obviously harbouring deep feelings for Iris. Despite strangely having a different accent from her sister,
Blunt is sweet and funny as Iris and brings a bit of charm to the film. The part of Hannah was originally meant
for Rachel Weisz but it was a stroke
of luck that she turned it down. The
comparably unknown DeWitt is exceptional as Iris’s deadpan, dry-humoured
sister.
The film
does have a twist in the tale which actually comes as quite a shock. Shelton does seem to understand how
relationships between family and friends work and those complications that can
make or break them. But this is where the plot unravels a
bit as, without giving the game away, it seems incredibly unlikely that many
guys would deal with things in quite the same way as Jack. Despite this implausibility, the film
does have an underlying message that stirs the emotions and just the right cast
to keep it real.
Your
Sister’s Sister is a funny, tender emotional ride about the consequences of
secrets and lies and goes to show that a hell of a lot can happen in just a
couple of days.
