LITTLE ROCK — Your Sister’s Sister, the latest film from director Lynn Shelton (Humpday), stars Mark Duplass as Jack, a man in alcoholic depression, who takes his best friend, Iris (Emily Blunt), up on her offer to use her family’s remote cabin as a place to clear his head and recharge his spirit. But when he arrives there, he finds Iris’ older sister, Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), ensconced there after the breakup of her longtime relationship.
While the film is largely improvised, it avoids the aimless plot and amateurish direction that marks so many so-called “mumblecore” projects. Shelton has crafted an emotional, enjoyable look at a bizarre love triangle. I talked to her about it.
Levi Agee: The title is indirectly referential; it’s sort of around about way of talking about somebody. You care to say how you came up with the name for the film?
Lynn Shelton: It was a tough one. It was hard to name the film. I think the reason I ultimately landed on Your Sister’s Sister was because I liked the little bit of a puzzle that you had to think it through. It feels like a little bit of a circuitous route - you have to think it through and that’s kind of the way the movie is for me. It’s also open ended. It doesn’t pigeonhole the movie, so you don’t really know if it’s a romantic comedy, you know a sister is involved. You don’t know what that relationship’s going to contain. I like that there are three people implied in it. There’s the person saying “your sister’s sister” and there’s the two sisters. It could apply to either of the sisters. It’s kind of a fun name.
LA: In the opening scene, when Jack eulogizes his brother Tom, you get two different perspectives of him. The back story is conveyed visually - through photographs - and orally through Jack’s speech. How important was establishing back story in this film on and off camera?
LS: It was incredibly important off-camera for sure.Mark was in from the very beginning because he called me with the idea ... [and with his brother] Jay’s blessing, he brought it to me. ... I invited the other actors in as soon as I could, before the plot was totally figured out, because I wanted them to be involved with the development of their characters. It kind of provided a way for a couple of things to take place.
An incredibly nuanced detailed back story is very important when I ask them to improvise ... I was trying to push them off the dialogue I’d written and find their own way through the scene. And if somebody lobs a line at you you’re not expecting ... you know exactly who you are, what your background is, what your history would be. It’s a lot easier to just open your mouth and respond in a naturalistic way that feels authentic.
Also, [by] involving the actors in that process, it provides an alternative to rehearsal. We want to be shooting the rehearsal. Essentially the first take of improv is the best, but instead of rehearsing we’re still getting to know each other over the course of the two months leading up to the project shooting, because we’re talking together, sharing stories from our own lives ... establishing a sense of intimacy and trust.
LA: What kind of structure do you put in place on the set to have that open environment? I know your background is in editing: Do you feel you’re an editor on set as well as a director?
LS: Absolutely. I could not work this way if I hadn’t been an editor. I know exactly what I need. It may feel like I’m not a control freak because I’m giving so much freedom to the actors ... but I’m a total control freak in terms of the structure. I really need to know what’s going to happen in the scene and what the emotional trajectory is going to be. So we talk and talk and talk before we start shooting so that everybody understands what the shape of the scene has to be and what territory has to be covered.
I have two cameras so I can turn it on them so they can go way off the grid - they can stick to the script just a little bit or they can just completely leave it behind and find their way through the scene. The editor part of my brain is clocking all the while ... I know when to move on. That truly is special too when you’re trying to do something very quickly, because we only had 12 days to shoot the film.
When I turn the cameras on they might meander - they’ll find their way through the scene 20 or 25 minutes a take and it’ll end up getting edited down to a 7-, 8-minute scene. So we’re finding the best of every take. Not just the best but what’s going to serve the movie well and then sharpening it and focusing it, combining it in the edit room.
LA: I mentioned Mark earlier and he brings this unique dynamic to the film of being charming and fun but also very vulnerable. Was there anything from Humpday, a film you did together, that helped you direct him in this current film?
LS: We did get to know each other. I find that every single actor I’ve worked with has this completely unique process. Everyone really does have a different way - sometimes vastly different ways - of working. You get the benefit of when you work with somebody on one project, you get the benefit of understanding them a little bit, getting their vocabulary and their process down and then it’s usually a little easier directing them the next time.
Same reason I worked with the crew again and again. It’s very, very helpful. You all just get to know each other very well.
Levi Agee is a programmer for the Little Rock Film Festival. E-mail him at:
MovieStyle, Pages 35 on 06/29/2012