We had one film releasing this weekend with the potential for Oscar nominations.

Your Sister’s Sister

After the disappointing performance of Rock of Ages pretty much assured the film wouldn’t get a Sound Mixing nomination, we were left with only one film that could have a shot at Oscar attention (that’s not including the documentaries, with which I am not very familiar). The film stars Rosemarie DeWitt, Emily Blunt and Mark Duplass. Both DeWitt and Blunt came close to Oscar nominations in the past. DeWitt for her performance in Rachel Getting Married and Blunt for The Young Victoria. Although both had critics in their corners, they were left off Oscar’s lists entirely. They take on this romantic comedy drama for director Lynn Shelton who directed Duplass in the bromance drama Humpday. Neither she nor Duplass haven proven themselves Oscar friendly so far, but either could, with the right material, be propelled into contention. Which brings us to the film, which has impressive reviews (87% at Rotten Tomatoes and 71 from MetaCritic). The film might fill a void of indie films this year, which haven’t exactly been igniting buzz so far this year.

If the film remains one of the few by year’s end, it could be a contender for nominations in Picture, Original Screenplay (bringing Shelton a nomination) and possibly even for either DeWitt or Blunt (lead or support will be hard to determine at this juncture). The film doesn’t seem poised to reap many other rewards in the category as Duplass isn’t the type of actor that’s been recognized by the Academy in recent years, but if it’s a big enough success at the year-end critics awards, his name could be bandied about at least. While I think the film’s chances are pretty minor, especially given the mid-June release date, I’ve been surprised in the past by what Summer indies have made it all the way to Oscar night, so I’ll wait to be convinced, but it won’t be difficult to do so.