Thursday, July 19, 2012

Movie Review: Your Sister's Sister and Safety Not Guaranteed

I'm reviewing both of these films at the same time because they have a lot in common. First of all, they are both set in and around Seattle, which means they look the same: green, woodsy, wet, three layers cold and like living inside a cotton ball. Apparently the sun only shines in those parts for dramatic sunsets. Second, one of the actors in the films, Mark Duplass, appears in both of them, and in both he has a distinctly green, woodsy and wet appearance, favoring jeans, hooded sweatshirts under denim jackets, moppy brown hair and a slightly dumpy face and body, although more dumpy in "Your Sister's Sister." Third, all of the major characters, including two charmingly attractive women, Audrey Plaza (Safety) and Emily Blunt (Sister), suffer from melancholy, depression, mild hysteria or outright delusion based on some kind of real or perceived loss: a spouse, a lover, a sibling, a parent,  the image of a perfect girl-friend, or youth. In an article I read recently, I encountered the word "adultesence," defined as the modern phenomenon of having adolescence stretch beyond college and into adulthood. To one degree or another, most of the adults in these two films fit that description. Finally, both of these indie style comedies reach similar conclusions in different ways. In "Safety," the world is disappointing and screwed up and the only way it can be fixed is by intense and eccentric dedication to a screwball idea, like time travel, or to the delusional but charismatic person who believes in it. In "Sister," the world is disappointing and screwed up and it takes three damaged people (and one big surprise), to figure out how to live in it. Both of these films were enjoyable, but if I only had enough money to buy one ticket, I'd choose "Safety Not Guaranteed." It takes more risks,  has a better script, is less predictable and more eccentrically funny, and Audrey Plaza is terrific. You have to love a character who says about her view of the world, "I expect the worst and then I try not to get my hopes up."

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