Touchy Feely (3/10): Better not touch it!

“Due to some unforeseen circumstances I will not be seeing clients for the time being.”

I was a huge admirer of Lynn Shelton’s film, Your Sister’s Sister, and I even included it on my list of the best movies of 2011 so I was eagerly anticipating what she would do next. I loved the way she captured those characters in such an authentic way and I was onboard for her mumblecore experimentation once again. Knowing that Rosemarie DeWitt was going to be back for the lead role was one of the main reasons I included Touchy Feely in my most anticipated movies of the year list. It didn’t hurt either that Ellen Page was going to play a supporting role since I was a huge fan of her work in Hard Candy and Juno. Everything about Touchy Feely had my expectations high rocketed to the sky, but then 2012 came and poor word of mouth lowered my expectations to such a degree that I never ended up seeing it until now. It was a major letdown and it made Lynn’s previous film, Laggies, seem like a masterpiece next to this. This is a dramedy that feels completely uneven and the plot doesn’t seem to go anywhere. I didn’t like any of the characters here and their motivations were hard to understand at times. The film was a mess and the pacing was so slow that this 90 minute film felt like it was three hours long. For a film trying to explore the interrelationships between these characters there was nothing to be said or discovered. Even the actors seemed to be lost and not fully understanding what their characters motivations really were. 

Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt), a successful message therapist, and her boyfriend Jesse (Scoot McNairy) are enjoying a lovely dinner at her brother Paul’s (Josh Pais) home. Paul, emotionally distant and a bit depressed, lives with his daughter Jenny (Ellen Page) who has sacrificed her personal dreams to assist her father at his dental practice, which isn’t exactly flourishing. Abby on the other hand is sought after for her great hands and seems to be going through a good moment in her life. She recommends his brother visit her Reiki instructor, Bronwyn (Allison Janney), who has done amazing things for her. Things take an unexpected turn in the family dynamics however when Abby suddenly develops a strange aversion towards skin which affects her work life. After Paul helps one of his patients recover from a terrible tooth pain, his dental practice begins to flourish due to the positive word of mouth his “healing hands” are receiving. While his relationship with his daughter seems to be getting stronger, Abbie’s new aversion to skin affects her relationship with Jesse.

Despite the pretty original premise the film fails to explore Abby’s problem. It’s just a technique used to shake the interpersonal relationship in the family, but there is nothing that Lynn is trying to explore with her new found aversion. I really didn’t understand why her character didn’t simply explain to Jesse what she was going through because I’m sure he would’ve understood. He seemed like a pretty comprehensive type of guy. The introduction of Ron Livingston’s character only feels like a filler and doesn’t do anything to build the story. Ellen Page delivers a solid performance once again, but her character is trapped inside her emotional wall which doesn’t allow her to fully blossom. Pais and DeWitt are the true stars of the film and their performances are the highlight of this forgettable film. Pais especially captures the eccentricities of his character in a rather natural way. I found the New Age mysticism in the film a bit too preachy and the indie quirkiness a bit too familiar. The tone of the film just dragged it down for me and I had a hard time relating to the characters or caring for any of them.  

Laggies (6/10): A talented and funny cast, but a predictable coming of age tale.

“Treat somebody badly enough you just assume they'll be happy to let you go.”

Laggies was one of my most anticipated films from 2014 for several reasons. First of all, Lynn Shelton directed one of my favorite romantic comedies from 2011, Your Sister’s Sister, with clever and witty dialogues and an interesting premise. The other reasons for my high expectations for Laggies revolves around the fantastic cast. Sam Rockwell is an actor who I could watch in any movie, but he is especially fantastic in comedies and coming of age movies (The Way Way Back being one of my favorite performances of his). Ever since Kick-Ass, Chloe Grace Moretz has been one of my favorite child actors and she has grown into a talented and charismatic teen actress. Keira Knightley has delivered in the past as well despite not being one of my favorites, and Kaitlyn Dever gave a refreshing performance in Short Term 12. The director and the cast of Laggies elevated my expectations for this film because I am a fan of everyone involved, but I wasn’t blown away by it the way I thought I would be. Laggies is still a solid coming of age film starring a talented cast with plenty of laughs focusing on a woman who is struggling to live up to her potential and going through some sort of quarter-life crisis.

In Laggies, Keira Knightley plays Megan, a 28 year old well educated woman who can’t find her vocation in life. She lives with her High School boyfriend, Anthony (Mark Webber), and keeps in close contact with her High School friend circle. They have all seemed to move on, some are getting married, others are having their first baby, and they are succeeding in the professional lives. Megan on the other hand is still working for her father and is content with holding up signs in the streets for his company. She is an adolescent trapped in the body of a 28 year old, so in a sense this is a film about adulthood. When her boyfriend proposes, she panics and decides to hide out for a week. After buying some alcohol for a group of teens she befriends them and asks if she can hang low at one of their homes for a week. Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz) who lives with her single father, Craig (Sam Rockwell), offers to let her stay at their place. Jeff Garlin plays the role of Megan’s father and Kaitlyn Dever plays one of Annika’s High School friends.

Laggies balances the difficult transition that Megan’s character has to make with comedic and light humor. There is something a bit uncomfortable with the relation between Megan and the young teenagers she befriends, and when Craig confronts her about it, we feel a bit at unease. But the comedy helps lighten the mood and Sam Rockwell is so good that he makes these scenes believable. Keira Knightley gives a strong performance as well and you can feel her uneasiness and inner conflict. The true surprise of the film for me however was Kaitlyn Dever who delivers most laughs. She doesn’t get many scenes, but the few she’s in she is hilarious. Like in most of Shelton’s films she throws some curve balls along the way with some subplots we aren’t expecting, but the end is rather predictable and generic making Laggies feel like another cliched romantic comedy. I may have over-hyped this film and despite not enjoying it half as much as I anticipated I still consider Laggies a solid film that entertains despite not being groundbreaking or memorable. The thing that is fresh about Laggies is that it centers around a female character with a screenplay written by a woman so there is definitely a female voice, but the fact that Shelton didn’t write the screenplay this time was a bit of a disappointment.  

My Review: Your Sister`s Sister (9/10)

¨What ever you think is helping you; I have a responsibility as your friend to tell you that it's not.¨

Your Sister`s Sister is Lynn Shelton`s follow up to Humpday, which happens to also star Mark Duplass. Shelton does a really good job with this small independent movie by making everything flow so naturally. The film is basically an improvised character study between three people dealing with different situations in a cabin on a beautiful location, and the script which was also written by Shelton was really clever. I can`t say how much credit Shelton should receive since most of the conversations taking place in the cabin happened to be improvised and spontaneous, but the general idea and twists in the film I thought were really ingenious. I found this romantic comedy extremely funny and I really laughed during the various altercations and revelations between the three characters. Mark Duplass has had a great year considering he also starred in the hilarious Safety Not Guaranteed which I enjoyed a lot. He was great here as well and he shared great chemistry with the other two main characters. Emily Blunt always makes interesting films as well. I loved her in last year`s The Adjustment Bureau and she was also good this year alongside Ethan McGregor in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, but this was probably her best performance in a while. I wasn’t very familiar with Rosemarie DeWitt, but she was great here as well. All three actors had great chemistry together and created interesting backgrounds for each one of their characters. Your Sister`s Sister is really a lovely indie film, and one I really enjoyed. Many people were unhappy with the ending, but I found it to be perfect for this movie. I guess that the reason some people might have for not liking this movie has to do with that ending, but I highly recommend it.

The movie opens with a bunch of friends gathered together remembering a friend in common who passed away a year ago. While one of the friends is giving his heartfelt eulogy, the dead guy`s brother, Jack (Mark Duplass) interrupts and asks everyone to be more sincere about him. Evidently it has been a tough year for Jack and his brother`s death has taken a toll on him as he continues to mourn for him. Iris (Emily Blunt), who happened to be Jack`s brother`s ex girlfriend long before he passed away, is also Jack`s best friend; and she recommends him to go to his father`s cabin on a beautiful island in order to get his mind straight. Jack accepts Iris`s invitation and decides to go to the cabin. Once he arrives at the cabin he discovers that someone else is already there. It happens to be Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt), Iris`s half sister who he has heard a lot about but never met. Hannah is there trying to get over a seven year relationship she had with her girlfriend Pam. The two begin talking and sharing drinks and up having sex. The next morning Iris surprisingly shows up after getting a few days off work and Jack and Hannah decide not to say anything about what happened the night before. This is where the hilarious moments and revelations begin to take place. There are several twists that take place as well, but the less you know about it the better.

Your Sister`s Sister is really a well made film, full of spontaneous and natural moments that are worth watching. It`s hard to believe that most of the dialogue was improvised because the film felt like it was cleverly crafted, but it works better because for a while you forget you are watching a movie and you begin to think you are looking at these people`s real lives. Not even a reality show makes you feel like this. I can`t count how many times I laughed with the mess these characters were getting into by covering each lie and the revelations that came from them. I really loved the performances as well so I honestly have to say that this is a film you should watch despite maybe not hearing of it due to its low budget. One thing is for sure, that after the success that Shelton is having as a director she will be getting a bigger budget for her next projects, and I will be looking out for them. I had a fun time with Your Sister`s Sister, and you probably will too.

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