Little Sister

Considering the highly publicized versions of Christians, you'd be forgiven for thinking the majority of them are intolerant Bible thumpers obsessed with Jesus and pushing their morality on other people. But as the son of two ministers, my mother is a Presbyterian minister and my dad is a Methodist minister, I can tell you firsthand that there are plenty of people of faith that are way nicer, zanier, and accepting than you'd expect. Which is probably why this movie about a young girl about become a nun struck a nerve.

The movie follows Colleen Lunsford, a soon to be nun who is less than a week away from taking her vows. Eager to leave her former life behind, Colleen hits a bump in the road when her mother indicates that her brother, a badly injured Iraq War vet, has returned home. Wanting to connect with her family one last time before taking the plunge, Colleen travels from New York to North Carolina to patch up past wounds.

Considering the set up and the title, I was pleasantly blown away but how upbeat this movie is while still handling emotional material. As soon as Colleen arrives home we can sniff out the major tensions among her family. Her mother feels like she's perpetually judged, and her brother is afraid to show his face due to horrific burn scars on his face (the makeup is eerily similar to Deadpool). Though never explicitly stated, the audience immediately understands that Colleen feels a desire to help her brother before she leaves and begins diving back into her old interests to bring him out of his shell.

It's a delightful turn in the movie not only because her old interests fly in the face of the nunnery, but it also emphasizes the idea that nuns are indeed people with pasts and interests beyond God. It's pretty fun and funny to watch Addison Timlin (who's amazing as Colleen) shift so quickly from mild-mannered church-goer to something very different (I'm being intentionally vague). Some might complain that the movie doesn't dive into a prolonged discussion about Colleen's reasons for joining  the church, but I think it adds to the film's power. This isn't about what drove Colleen to her faith, there's a lot that's implied, it's about her confirming her decision.

Addison Timlin is phenomenal in this movie as Colleen, maintaining soft-spoken sweetness that defines Colleen, even in her most pained moments, while still diving into the weirder parts whole sale. As an example, many actors overplay their hand when their character gets drunk, but Timlin manages to portray how Colleen would act when she's drunk. It's great stuff.

The movie also does an excellent job at portraying various reactions to trauma be they emotional scars from childhood or visible wounds from war. Colleen still has contentious feelings towards her mother, a clear trigger for her escape into religion, and her brother's injury sends a ripple effect through her parents and his fiance. We see them screw up, fail to connect, and reconcile all in realistic and satisfying ways. It's messy and full of hard laughs, but ultimately sweet.

While the film is incredibly charming it does come with plenty of indie movie staples that will either amuse or irritate you depending on your worldview. Does Colleen have an activist best friend who's a little bit out there? You bet. Does a scene of connection and revelations center around illicit substances? Yup. I didn't think these elements were distracting, since their primary function is to give someone Colleen to react to, but I can see a couple of eyes rolling.

Short, unconventional, and emotionally satisfying, Little Sister is the right kind of indie movie about a dysfunctional family. I highly recommend this one.