LITTLE SISTER REVIEWED
“Little Sister” is carried by Addison Timlin’s star-making performance. But, these aren’t the kinds of movies that produce stars unless the Weinsteins put their stamp on it. What these films do is offer up an offbeat take on the familiar. Wisely designed to capitalize on the Halloween season, “Little Sister” asks us to address what scares us in our lives. Being disfigured, losing a sense of purpose or having to come to terms with who you were years ago?
The choice to set the film in the Fall of 2008 might feel a bit on the nose, but it works to set mood. So many of the failed Bush administration policies had destroyed any sense of liberty and stability in America. Iraq War veterans were returning home maimed and mistreated. There was a constant desire to have things change, but nobody knew what could make it all work again. As Timlin struggles with her new life as a nun, returning home to help her family teaches her something. None of this is supposed to make sense.
What Timlin does with Colleen is extraordinary. She crafts a character that’s a repressed Goth that denied her former life. She’s a former virgin, but sleeps in her old upside down cross covered room. Colleen blasts GWAR on repeat, but has never drank a beer. The right mix is found in a character that is all about appearance, while hiding her true self out of a fear of appearing vulnerable. Plus, there’s the family dynamic.
Everyone in Colleen’s family is loving, but they don’t function as a unit. Colleen returns to draw her brother out of the guest house, while trying to get her parents to stop abusing drugs. Nobody is on the verge of killing themselves, but they all kinda hate what they have become. Sure, Ally Sheedy’s character might have attempted it in the past…but, we’ll leave that alone. If you want to see a realistic family drama that’s fun and kinda dark, make sure you check this out on VOD or at the local arthouse. Truly stunning work and one of the three releases to really floor me this month.
FILM STATS
- 1 hr and 31 mins
- Not Rated
- Forager Films
