Written and directed by Lynn Shelton.
I believe there’s this refreshing feeling when you’re
watching a film by Lynn Shelton. It’s like you’re watching something live.
Basically, it feels pretty much alive, it’s a recognizable unpredictableness
because we usually also know how human beings’ actions are driven by a few
things we might share in common. I may transcend notions of reality and
fiction, but in some ways, Shelton can do what reality shows are incapable of
doing, which can be pretty simple, she not only sounds truer but she also has
this more reliable take than the reality show itself. I think more than ever,
film, reality television, documentaries share fundamentally a common language
and she understands her own very well in order to succeed in the common
language.
The story deals with two friends, Jack lost his
brother a year ago and he’s still coping with the loss, still finding a balance
so Iris decides to send him to a remote cottage on a island in order for him to
find himself. When Jack arrives to the house he’s faced with an
unpredictability, Iris’s half sister Hannah is in the cottage and it is
also recovering from a heartbreak and is also trying to start over. Their
mutual share of crisis and tequila leads them to bed. Then Iris arrives to the
cottage the next day to their surprise, but she also brings other intentions,
she’s in love with Jack.
Gradually, with its slow paced genuine revealing
moments, it becomes a triangle in increasing conflict. Emily Blunt is Iris,
Hanna’s younger sister, who looks for her comfort and reasoning. It could be
said she’s the center. Jack, who’s late brother Iris dated for quite a while is
afraid of revealing his affections for Iris because of that but also because
he’s afraid he’s not good enough for her. He could also be the center, or
better yet, in the middle of this triangle, especially because of the strong
bounds between these two sisters. But then should be Hannah, whose life is just
starting over and finds herself caught in some conflicts in ways she could have not
predicated when she consciously and out of a selfish and vulnerable position
slept with her sister’s best friend Jack. So the whole dynamic floats with
steam, with passionate chemistry and honest balance. These three actors work
beautifully here, they’re amazing. Rosemarie DeWitt is so charming. It’s really
refreshing watching Emily Blunt in this position, where she’s wearing her
own clothes and such, but it’s really about their integrity and devotion to the project.
So all it takes is a couple of common but fundamental
life intricacies that anyone can relate to and then a film like this one becomes
twenty times a much richer experience than Friends with Benefits and other joking
bullshits.
