Take This Waltz (2011)

The characters of Take This Waltz live in a leafy urban neighbourhood the likes of which only exist in North America. Their bubble is coated with bright colours that insulate them from anything that happens outside their self-absorbed lives. There is a scene where two characters munch on their chicken drumsticks while an overly enthusiastic news reporter tries very hard to make his voice heard amidst the cacophony a nearby earthquake is causing.

Of course there is nothing wrong with characters inhabiting a world of their own, a world where the rules don't follow ours. A good script never lets its viewers to question the probability of the events taking place in the world of the story. Sarah Polley's script manages to do that just fine - you never question whether what transpires on the screen could or would happen. But, you keep asking yourself the same nagging question over and over again. Why? And why to these people?

Your Sister's Sister (2011)

Lynn Shelton's Your Sister's Sister is a revelation. It tells so much, yet refrains from saying just as much. The result is a taut and satisfying drama.

Mark Duplass is Jack - an unemployed, Pacific Northwestern, wearing plaid shirts and drinking craft ale. It's been a year since his brother died, with whom he seems to have had an up-and-down relationship, but he hasn't really got over it. Despite their incompatibility, they loved each other. These conflicting feelings implode during the commemorative meal his brother's friends have arranged on the first anniversary of his death. Seeing how her best friend is going through a destructive funk, Iris (Emily Blunt) suggests he spend some time in her dad's pad on an island in the Sound.