Independent film lost a guiding light this month with the sudden passing of filmmaker Lynn Shelton. Although many mainstream viewers are probably more familiar with her TV directing credits (“New Girl,” “Mad Men,” “GLOW”), the legacy she leaves in indie cinema cannot be understated.
From 2006 to 2019, Shelton created a multi-film roadmap for considering the dimensionality of place (often Seattle) and deep personal meaning in the mundane. Often, her scripts arrived at enlightenment through the pleasure and messiness of simple conversation. The actors having those chats—Mark Duplass, Michaela Watkins, Emily Blunt, Marc Maron, and many more—seemed to learn Shelton’s language better with every passing film.
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This week, Be Reel looks back at “We Go Way Back” (2006), “Humpday” (2009), “Your Sister’s Sister” (2011), “Laggies” (2014) and “Sword of Trust” (2019), an encompassing oeuvre of Shelton characters who often desperately need a break from their everyday.
On the one hand, these films routinely find their forward motion from kooky comedy premises: straight guys making gay porn, accidentally sleeping with your friend’s sister, befriending a high school clique at 28, coming into possession of a sword that “proves” the South actually won the Civil War. But that doesn’t mean the movies aren’t deeply concerned with toxic masculinity, the trauma of dreams unrealized, and how the Culture Wars are shaping our identities.
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Lynn Shelton thrived on high comedy and well-studied drama together. She could do both. She could do a hell of a lot. And we’ll miss her.
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