Your Sister’s Sister Review

• 22nd Oct 2012

Man, I’m telling you I let out a massive sigh of relief as I watched the events throughout Lynn Shelton’s perfectly and oh so eloquently honest film fest favourite Your Sister’s Sister unfold.

At the age of 16 I recall the world being confusing with the general understanding that it was ok to not know all the answers, to always be asking many questions and feeling  a little lost was just part of the daily routine.  With this I was comforted knowing that by my early 20s I will have met my Mr Right, probably be planning a wedding and be firmly making my way up the ladder in my chosen profession. Oh how I laughed when the realisation hit in my early 20s that this in general was not the case. At least when I hit my early 20s I accepted this, again comforted in the knowledge that by my late 20s I will have met my Mr Right, probably be planning a wedding, yada yada yada.  There are many wonderful, beautifully flawed aspects of human nature touched on in this film however the most poignant without a doubt is that in no way is it a sure thing that your life will be sorted and neatly folded into a crisp, fresh smelling pile of duck egg tinged egyptian cotton sheets by the age of 27.

Teen angst is so last season as we realise even as ‘adults’ that we still don’t have all the answers and life whilst at times is stupendously exciting manages to through us curve balls that usually slip right past the glove smacking with unbelievable oomph right in the depth of our guts.  This along with a few slaps in the face here and there from the hand of fate is the message Shelton along with an almost overwhelmingly adorable cast drives home with pure artistic grace.

Concerned by her close friend’s rapidly decreasing ability to pull his life together after the loss of his brother and her ex-boyfriend a year earlier Iris, played by an eternally sweet and endearing Emily Blunt sends Mark Duplass’s scrumptiously scruffy Jack to her Father’s log cabin for some alone time to clear his head, gather his thoughts and get his life back on track.  Obviously things don’t go entirely to plan as there’s only room in the history of cinema for one film entirely about a man completely on his own (thanks Tom) and after arriving at the cabin to find Iris’s sister Hannah (the stunning, untouchably cool Rosemarie Dewitt) what unfolds is a beautifully shocking array of comical, heartfelt, frustrating human moments.

Your Sister’s Sister is a truly beautiful confirmation that even as an adult it’s ok to feel as insecure, unsure and as selfish as a teenager. Gorgeously directed with an absolutely stunning script, a ridiculously attractive cast and breathtaking scenery.  I feel like my senses went camping in the most beautifully scenic part of the American woodlands and came back refreshed and excited about life.

Kath Haling