- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), English LPCM 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/16-bit), English Audio Description LPCM 2.0 (48kHz/24-bit)
- Subtitles: English HOH
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: B (Region-Locked)
- Certification: 15
- Run Time: 90 Mins.
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: StudioCanal
- Blu-ray Release Date: October 29, 2012
- RRP: £24.99
–
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1.5/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
–
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Lynn Shelton’s indie character study, Your Sister’s Sister, despite its redundant title, is far from a duplication of things we’ve seen a million times before in cinema, even if it is a bit of a potpourri of indie styles, the dominant one being the trendy mumblecore.
Shelton’s screenplay gives us three characters all at a low- and turning point in their lives. Jack (The League’s Mark Duplass) has been slowly slipping out of control for a year since his brother’s death. His best friend Iris (Emily Blunt; The Muppets; Salmon Fishing in the Yemen; The Adjustment Bureau; Gnomeo & Juliet; Gulliver’s Travels), who also happened to be his brother’s recent ex-girlfriend at the time of his death, intervenes, suggesting he get away for some time alone at her family’s secluded island cottage on the Puget Sound. When Jack arrives there, instead of an empty house, he finds Iris’ older half-sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt; The Odd Life of Timothy Green; TV’s The United States of Tara). Hannah has also come to get away and clear her head after having just left her girlfriend of seven-years. A night of friendly bonding over a bottle of tequila leads to a surprise turn of events and the two new acquaintances find themselves awkwardly having sex. Complications arise the next morning when Iris arrives for a surprise visit and Jack wants to keep the drunken hook-up a secret, due to his obvious feelings for Iris. But Iris lays out some shocking revelations of her own to her big sister that night that make the whole situation even more uncomfortable.
The story unfolds slowly and methodically, each of Shelton’s characters reveling in their own self-centered universe, until the final denouement, a shocker I don’t think anyone will see coming, throws the entire situation into a tailspin.
Duplass is excellent as a wandering and listless near-layabout who is full of himself just enough to come off as self-confident, but one who is troubled, not as a cad. DeWitt steals the show here simply because her character’s backstory is revealed to be the most complex and she portrays it as such with delicacy. Emily Blunt, for all her charm, cannot infuse much gravitas into a character that is woefully light on motivation. Iris is simply being driven by the circumstances around her, as likable as she may ultimately be.
In the end, however, what makes Your Sister’s Sister a successful film is the realism that Shelton is able to capture as a director and screenwriter. She pulls out interesting performances from her actors, and also manages to craft an awkward, uncomfortable slice of life drama that still has enough humor and real life moments in it to be enjoyable. For instance, while Jack and Hannah are having their ultimately regrettable fling, he lets out a squeal, and apologizes, “I squealed, I’m sorry.” It becomes one of the funnier moments of what one can already tell is a very bad idea. It’s also quite believable that such a thing would occur when two strangers are having sex for the first time, especially between a heterosexual male and a lesbian.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Your Sister’s Sister was shot in HD with the relatively inexpensive (~$10,000 SRP) Sony PMW-EX3 at 1080p resolution and appears on Blu-ray in an AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 encodement from StudioCanal. The muted colors, middling performance in low-lit scenes make for a less than spectacular viewing experience, but the overall effect is still rather natural and filmic most of the time, especially in the brighter moments.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Audio fares better in the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) soundtrack that has a good boost of atmospheric sounds in its surround channels balanced out by a punchy AAA-ish score widely spread across the front, meaty low frequencies and clean dialogue in this dialogue-heavy film.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1.5/5]
There’s not much of anything offered here outside of the obligatory audio commentary and theatrical trailer.
The supplements:
- Audio Commentary with Director Lynn Shelton and Crew
- Trailer (2.35:1; 1080p/24)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
These are the kinds of indie films that really put Hollywood to shame. Why is it that, a film like Your Sister’s Sister can basically fly without a parachute and tackle some serious subjects without ever really preaching about anything and make feel so real and true, never worrying about being cutesy? With most Hollywood comedy/dramas we are given sugary films that say nothing and have us walking away from them feeling empty and cheated. This film may not be perfect, but it won’t leave you feeling like you’ve been fooled again.
Additional Screen Captures
[amazon-product region=”uk” tracking_id=”bluraydefinit-21″]B008LU8ND2[/amazon-product]
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.co.uk
–
[amazon-product region=”uk” tracking_id=”bluraydefinit-21″]B008LU8ND2[/amazon-product]
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.co.uk
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1.5/5]
–
