Films by a Northwest Native Who Made it All the Way to Hollywood

Five films by Lynn Shelton

Lynn Shelton was a Seattle area writer-director and producer who was starting to gain understanding from Hollywood at large. She passed away on May 16, 2020, from acute myeloid leukemia. The first film of hers I watched was Your Sister’s Sister which was shot on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound. I found her films insightful and had their own minimalist aesthetic that I appreciate. There are no special effects here. Often, especially early in her career, the crew would be less than 20 people. Small intimate stories with a small crew and on a small budget. And it all worked.

I put these films in order of release. These are also films by Lynn Shelton that I have viewed at least once each.

My Effortless Brilliance

Two friends had a falling out several years in the past. One day Eric(Sean Nelson) appears on Dylan’s(Basil Harris) cabin in eastern Washington hoping to work things out.

This is Lynn Shelton’s second film. A weirdly engaging meditation on masculinity and friendship between two fussy men. It has moments of brilliance or joy and humor but a lot of awkwardness and silences. A setup pressure cooker between two old friends trying to find a reason to be friends again. Richard Linklater made a similar film with Tape and Kelly Reichardt made an old friend return film with Old Joy.

Humpday

This is the film that started to create a buzz around Lynn Shelton’s filmmaking. It was her third feature film effort. The setting is very similar to My Effortless Brilliance.

Andrew played by Joshua Leonard appears on Ben’s (Mark Duplass) front door. The two friends than engage in a series of male heterosexual oneupmanship. Ben is now settled in marriage and a career while Andrew still holds his college days beatnik romances.

Your Sister’s Sister

Stars Emily Blunt, Mark Duplass, and Rosemarie DeWitt. Iris(Emily Blunt) invites her best friend Jack(Mark Duplass) to spend some alone time at her father’s island cabin. At the cabin, Iris’ sister Hannah(Rosemarie DeWitt) is spending time recovering from a breakup. A night of drinking leads to a series of revelations over the coming days.

This film features many scenes of the natural beauty around the northwest. It was filmed on and around Orcas Island. Also featured regular 12 hour shooting days for the sixteen-person crew. Time and budget constraints made this necessary.

Laggies

Featuring Megan(Keira Knightly) having an early in life crisis when her boyfriend proposes. She decides to hide out in the home of her new 16-year-old friend Annika(Chloe Grace Moretz) and her father played by Sam Rockwell. This is the first film that Lynn Shelton directed that was from a script she wrote.

Shot in Seattle it also features Shorecrest High School and Shoreline Washington, just north of Seattle, and also at the Chihuly Garden of Glass.

Outside In

Chris(Jay Duplass) has spent twenty years in prison for a crime that was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He earns his release due to the never-ending support and advocacy of his high school teacher Carol(Edie Falco). Turns out Chris has had a crush on Carol since then and confesses his love to her.

One of my favorite musician/artist Andrew Bird does the score for this film. It also shows plenty of scenes around Washington State. The film was not shot in Seattle but in rural Granite Falls and Snohomish county in general.

I hope you check out some of these films from your local library. They are worth your time when taking a break for some solid storytelling and beautiful scenery.

Thank you for reading.