Your Sister's Sister

A year after his brother's death Jack still cannot function. His closest friend Iris sends him to her father's empty cabin on an island: a week alone, get yourself together. He arrives to find Hannah, Iris's sister, already there, having just ended a seven-year relationship for much the same reason. After a bottle of tequila and one night, Iris turns up at the door the next morning. Rather than milking the triangle for comedy, the film watches three people grieving different things at the same moment. All of it plays out in the kitchen and on the porch, in long conversations. Lynn Shelton wrote and directed. Emily Blunt plays Iris, Rosemarie DeWitt plays Hannah, Mark Duplass plays Jack. The script was an outline of plot points and scene objectives; all the dialogue is improvised. It was shot in twelve days on Fidalgo Island and in the San Juan Islands of Washington state. Hannah was originally cast with Rachel Weisz, who had to withdraw three days before shooting; Rosemarie DeWitt was hired the day before it began. Who it is for: anyone who likes improvisation-based American independents and three-hander chamber pieces. Who it is not for: anyone looking for structure. The resolution in the final act is the weakest part of the script and the closing comes too easily.