YOUR SISTER'S SISTER And I Both Start Strong Before Tapping Out Too Early

 "I really think your face is going to annoy me right now."

The second day of Noteworthy Reunion started with a clutch Dunkies run before a few folks had to exit back to the real world.  The rest of us had a low key afternoon, largely fueled by Bud Light Strawberitas and avacado egg rolls.  We listened to some of the group's various recordings over the years, which may sound self-indulgent but was actually anything but.  The young'uns got to hear the earliest incarnations of the group while we old folks were blown away by Noteworthy's most recent album.  The host's parents stopped by with some friends in the early afternoon so we sang a few tunes on the front porch, including "A Little Help From My Friends" by The Beatles and Billy Joel's "Lullabye," two songs that have been passed down among multiple generations of the group.

Afterwards, some people retired for a midday nap around this point while others gathered in the living room for a movie break.  I anticipated such an occurrence and, during our early morning jaunt into town, I scoured the discount DVD rack at Walgreens in search of something fun.  I chose Orphan, a horror movie I've never seen even though the totally bonkers ending has already been spoiled for me.  Tragically I was unable to get the house DVD player working and had to abandon that plan.  It's a shame, as I really think that would have been a great crowd for Orphan's particular brand of crazy.  What's worse, I almost brought the cables that would've let me plug my laptop into the TV, but left them at home at the last minute.  I'm still pretty sad about it.

By the time night rolled around I started to wish that I too had crashed out that afternoon.  I was the oldest member of the group present at Reunion this year and lately I've been starting to really feel my age in the lamest of possible ways.  Around 11:30 that night, as the party was starting to really kick into gear again, I was suffering from some pretty awful heartburn.  I guess that's what happens when you straight booze and smoke for two days without drinking any water or eating anything that even vaguely resembles healthy food.  This just in: getting old sucks.  I feel like next year I'm gonna have to spend the week before Reunion getting extra sleep and hydrating so that I can make it all the way through and keep up with the babies.  I was forced to take myself out of the action for a bit, so I pulled out my laptop in search of an alternative movie option for the day and settled on Your Sister's Sister, really for no other reason than, like Reunion, it was largely set in a house in the woods.

Lynn Shelton is a filmmaker who I find incredibly interesting.  I saw her most recent film Touchy Feely at the Independent Film Festival Boston but was so underwhelmed that I ended up abandoning my write up in favor of Bobcat Goldthwait's great Willow Creek.  In that film, Shelton was able to elicit strong performances out of her actors, especially Rosemarie DeWitt, but the story never coalesced for me in any meaningful way, burning through its quirky premise and not really amounting to much of anything else.  I suppose that's the danger of working in a largely improvisational style - it's easy for the plot to get away from you.  Most people hear "improv" and they think comedy (Thanks Drew Carrey!) and while there's plenty of laughs in both Touchy Feely and Your Sister's Sister, it's the drama that really drives these films.  I've done some improvised drama back in my theater days and I totally love it.  Dramatic improv has the ability to be incredibly powerful in the hands of the right performers and I found that style to be compelling enough in Touchy Feely to give Shelton another look.

Here's how the trailer sold Your Sister's Sister to me: Mark Duplass plays Jack, a guy who's still in a funk a year after the death of his brother.  His best friend/his dead brother's ex-girlfriend Iris (Emily Blunt) convinces him to go spend some time alone at her father's cabin in order to clear his head, but when he arrives late at night he finds Iris's sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) already there drinking away the relationship she just walked out on.  One thing leads to another and, a bottle of tequila later, she and Jack end up sleeping together.  But when Iris arrives the next morning, everything becomes more complicated, especially when she admits to Hannah that she might actually have feelings for Jack.  I love small character/relationship pieces with simple, believable setups like that.  (I've certainly been in similar situations in the past, where I had feelings for someone but couldn't actually be with them for one reason or another so I ended up hooking up with their friend instead as some kind of weird emotional proxy.  What can I say, infatuation is a messy business.)  I'm even willing to live with a certain degree of the classic rom-com "everybody's lying to each other and running around under false pretenses" schtick so long as the characters are interesting and there's an honest payoff at the end.

Here's what the trailer left out though: Hannah is a lesbian.  Now, I'll still believe that after a lot of tequila, honest conversation, heartbreak and a little flirting, that she and Jack would end up having sex.  She even says something to the effect of, "It's been a while since I climbed on that particular horse," which clearly implies that she's at least slept with guys before.  It's a little janky, but DeWitt and Duplass really sell that moment on screen so I'll allow it.  It's the film's later big reveal that I have a real problem with; it turns out that Hannah really wants a kid, which immediately makes Jack suspicious of their brief fling.  She points out that they used a condom and Jack dismisses the whole thing, but then he remembers that the rubber was hers and not his, so he digs it out of the trash can and fills it up with water, revealing that the thing has a dozen holes poked in it.

That's the point where the film really kind of lost me.  Tonally, it's such a weird left turn from everything that's come before it that suddenly the entire story seemed downright silly.  And there's still a lot of emotional scene work to follow, as Iris and Jack are forced to figure out their feelings for one another in the face of their complicated history while Iris is simultaneously pissed at Hannah for deceiving her and Jack is still an immature mess of a person.  There's so much strong emotional material to worth with just in those three very real relationships that the added pregnancy complication just completely gilds the lily.  It's too over the top and frankly feels like a plot device that was borrowed from a lesser film.  The three stars all do strong work, which is the only thing that keeps the film moving at that point on.  (Also, props to comedian Mike Birbiglia, who's great in the film's opening scene.)  Blunt, Duplass and DeWitt are all extremely capable improvisers and their natural dialogue builds a sort of breezy chemistry between them.  DeWitt in particular seems to fit very well with Shelton's style and I look forward to the day when they make a film together that can actually sustain itself the whole way through.

I hung out with the Noteworthy crew for a while longer before finally succumbing to the will of my aging body and crashing out on the upstairs couch once again.  The next morning we made one more Dunkies run before we cleaned up the house and bid each other adieu.  Warren and I were the last to leave, and after we dropped our friend Erin off at the Hartford airport, we continued the trek back to Boston.  Reunion has always been my favorite event of the year and I don't expect that to change anytime soon.  But it's been interesting to watch the tone of the event and the makeup of the participants shift over time.  This year, due mostly to scheduling, there were no current members of the group in attendance.  While it's something we've talked about doing in the past, it's never actually happened before.  The same goes for inviting spouses, significant others and children.  Right now we all look at Reunion as a weekend away from the world to cut loose and party with our favorite people, but as the years march on it's becoming more about reconnecting with the folks you haven't seen in ages.  At some point I expect that "alumni only" will become the standard for future Reunions.

As the age gap widens between the youngest and oldest Noteworthians, (it's currently sitting somewhere around 19-31 years old) it can certainly make for a slightly bizarre environment when we all get together.  We really do consider ourselves to be one big family, but just like any family there are multiple generations at play, and it's understandable to be drawn towards our contemporaries as opposed to some young upstarts who can give me a dissertation on twerking but don't understand my Saved By The Bell references.  (Obviously that street goes both ways.)  As someone who's still able to attend shows on a regular basis I'm probably the oldest member of the group who's closest to the youngest members, but when the time comes for me to leave Boston again I expect that will alter my attitudes about Reunion and my relationship with Noteworthy as a whole, especially if I end up living somewhere far away from everyone else.  Will I ever get "too old for Reunion?"  I certainly hope not.

I'm not an old man yet.  But I'm getting there.

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Title: Your Sister's Sister
Director: Lynn Shelton
Starring: Emily Blunt, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mark Duplass, Mike Birbiglia,
Year Of Release: 2011
Viewing Method: Netflix DVD (laptop)

Kicking Off Noteworthy Reunion Weekend With DIRTY GIRL

"The trick is to dance in your own world.  Let them come to you."

At the start of my sophomore year of college, my roommate's girlfriend Caitlin decided to start an a cappella group.  Considering that Emerson is full of acting and musical theater majors, it was a little surprising that the school didn't already have one (or several) but it seemed that the college had a longstanding tradition of short lived groups that would maybe get through a single performance before disbanding.  My high school had four different groups by the time I graduated but, despite my myriad extra curricular activities, singing was the one thing I never never took up.  So it only makes sense that, other than theater, a cappella would become the only activity I really got involved with in college.  We started out with about 18 members, quickly lost a few and gained a few more, but against all odds the group managed to stay together and put on a few shows each semester.  We even pulled off a few road trips to perform at other schools like Amherst and Syracuse.

The reason we were able to succeed where past groups had failed was a matter of simple chemistry.  We all very quickly bonded and became great friends.  When we weren't rehearsing we hung out between classes and we threw epic parties.  In fact, we always used to joke that we were actually "a drinking group with an a cappella problem."  I'm proud to be an original member and I'm even prouder to watch the group thrive and prosper over the last 10+ years.  While we old folks still see each other for weddings and childbirths, we've also had the chance to get to know the younger generation of Noteworthians by attending the current shows and, more importantly, our annual Reunion.

For the past seven years, Noteworthy members past and present have gathered together in a different location for a long weekend filled with booze, music, bonfires, booze, food, laughter and oh, did I mention booze?  Drinking games are a popular pastime with us, whether it be Beirut, Kings, Quarters or massive games of Flip Cup.  We've managed to invade a number of locales over the years, including the woods of New Jersey, Petaluma CA, Martha's Vineyard, Nashville, and Burlington, VT.  We typically hold Reunion over Memorial Day weekend, which is also the weekend I got married last year.  About a dozen Noteworthy alum came to the wedding and sang a few songs during the ceremony, which made the weekend feel like a sort of mini-Reunion.  The rest of the members stuck around for the school's alumni weekend while Jamie and I were honeymooning in Greece and Egypt.  This year we pushed Reunion to Labor Day weekend and met up in Hartford, CT.  Since it was only a short trip from Boston I offered to drive a car down and invited all the locals to crash at my place the night before so we could get a (vaguely) early start.

Anticipating how the day would turn out, I woke up and knocked out my movie for the day while most people were still sleeping.  I wanted to choose something that was somehow appropriate or related to the weekend's activities.  If I hadn't already seen (and hated) it, the obvious answer would have been the recent Anna Kendrick college a cappella movie Pitch Perfect, but I went another route entirely.  I chose Dirty Girl, an indie about Danielle (Juno Temple), a foul mouthed, promiscuous young girl in Oklahoma in the late 1980's who befriends the overweight gay boy in her class (Jeremy Dozier) and the two soon embark on a road trip to find Danielle's unknown biological father.  Where's the connection to Noteworthy, you ask?  The connection is none other than singer Melissa Manchester.

Shortly after I graduated, the group took in a girl named Hannah.  Hannah was local to L.A. and her folks lived not too far from the apartment I was sharing with two other Noteworthy guys, so when she'd go home for vacations we'd invite her over to to hang with the L.A. alums.  Hannah was very funny and I liked her right away.  It wasn't until much later that someone said to me, "You know her mom is Melissa Manchester?"

To which I replied, "Who's Melissa Manchester?"

"She's a singer from the 80's.  You know Melissa Manchester, she sang 'Don't Cry Out Loud.'"

"I have never listened to or heard of that song before."

This was considered by some to be a totally ludicrous statement.  Apparently 'Don't Cry Out Loud' was a fairly popular song that had managed to totally escape my ear over the years, and I like to think I have a passable familiarity with the music of my youth.  Somehow this one had snuck past me.  I've met Melissa Manchester multiple times and even crashed a July 4th BBQ at her house one year, where I and the other Noteworthy alums were coerced into singing the National Anthem.  Ya know, for 'Merica.  She's a very sweet woman and if one of her songs came on right now I still probably wouldn't know it.

But I remember hearing stories about Dirty Girl from Hannah even before the film was released.  Clarke, Danielle's gay partner-in-crime, is a huge Melissa Manchester fan, and a lot of her music is written into the script, including the final scene in which Temple sings the song at a school talent show.  When writer/director Abe Sylvia went to Manchester to secure the rights to her music, she fell in love with the script and not only allowed them to use her tunes, she even co-wrote (along with star Mary Steenburgen) and performed an original song for the film called 'Rainbird' that ended up on an early list of potential nominees for the Best Original Song Oscar.  Plus, if you're paying attention you can see her playing the piano accompaniment during the talent show.*

It's easy to see why Manchester would be fond of the script.  It's sharp and funny and often feels like a sweet throwback to the great roadtrip and coming of age comedies of the 1980's.  The story of bonding between two misfits on a quest to find themselves is downright adorable, thanks in large part to the two leads, but there's an undercurrent of earnest pathos as the two disillusioned youths attempt to make sense of their own complicated family relationships.  Danielle has a sweet but dim mom (Mila Jovovich) who's jumping headfirst into the goodie-goodie Mormon lifestyle courtesy of her new boyfriend, (William H. Macy grabbing a quick paycheck) leaving Danielle with no hope other than her bio dad to pull her out of the dull world of suburban Oklahoma.  Clarke, meanwhile, has a redneck father (Dwight Yoakam) who's determined to therapy/punch the gay out of him, while his sweet mother (Mary Steenburgen doing some of her best work in recent memory) tries to quietly love and protect her son from her asshole husband.

But it's the two leads who really carry this movie and they do it with aplomb.  Juno Temple is an actress that Hollywood has been in love with for years now and I'll admit that I've never really seen the appeal.  She's always had an odd, otherworldly quality that's been well utilized for characters like Dottie in the fantastic Killer Joe, but made her seem unconvincing as a normal human person.  But this is the movie that turned me around.  Danielle is both wildly immature and wise beyond her years at the same time; she's more than capable handling herself in the big bad world, but Temple gives the teen such a wounded quality that you can't help but want to put your arm around her shoulders and take her in, even if she will probably bite your hand off in retaliation.  Danielle may be the driving force of action, but it's Clarke who's the real heart of the movie.  A sweet boy who's hit with the teenage double whammy of being both fat and gay, Clarke wants nothing more than to feel he warm embrace of love and acceptance, whether it be from his parents, a lover or a true blue friend.  He and Danielle make a fantastic odd couple; Clarke echoes the gooey emotional center that she hides beneath her chain smoking, in-your-face attitude and Danielle coaxes him out from underneath his ubiquitous orange hoodie and instills a sense of confidence and style in the initially sullen introvert.  Dozier is marvelous in the role, creating a nuanced, complete character instead of the broad gay caricature that I've grown so weary of in these kinds of movies.  Clarke feels like a real guy who actually would have existed back then, who's all gruff and silent in public but when he closes the door to his room he can sing and dance along to Melissa Manchester in his own spectacular dream world.  I'm astounded that Dozier hasn't found more work in the years since.

It was an easy drive down to Connecticut, where we met up with about a dozen or so members of Noteworthy at a large house in the middle of the woods without a neighbor anywhere in sight, a.k.a the ideal Reunion environment.  It was actually a relatively small group compared to some years past, but there were folks there that I hadn't seen in a few years so there was plenty of reminiscing and catching up to do.  I took up my customary post at the grill that afternoon and before helping to spearhead a campfire brigade as the sun went down.  Warren and I went on an epic Beirut winning streak before the night gave way to Flip Cup and s'mores, a late night garlic bread bake-off and lots and lots of alcohol.  I curled up on a couch around 2:30 in the morning and drifted off to sleep with whiskey and garlic on my breath and a big shit eating grin on my face.

Reunion is the best.


*This is all my recollection of how the events were explained to me.  It may not have gone down in exactly that manner, but either way it's the story that was in my mind when I decided to watch the film, for whatever that's worth.

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Title: Dirty Girl
Director: Abe Sylvia
Starring: Juno Temple, Jeremy Dozier, Mila Jovovich, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, William H. Macy, Tim McGraw
Year Of Release: 2010
Viewing Method: Netflix Instant (Laptop)