Remembering Lynn Shelton
By Morgan Roberts
Today is filmmaker Lynn Shelton’s 60th birthday. She is best known for her mumblecore feature films and her stints on every television show as a director. Shelton is my favorite filmmaker and over the years, I have waxed poetically about her work, dissecting her films, how you can find her unique touches in television, and her journey as a filmmaker. I will probably spend the rest of my life interrogating her work and discovering magic that only lived experience gives you when watching her films.
Photo by Randall Michelson - Image from WireImage.com and imdb.com
I was introduced to Lynn Shelton as a filmmaker when reading Entertainment Weekly. I read a blurb about her film, “Humpday” which had taken Sundance by storm. A subversive film that bravely asked if straight men were okay and swiftly gave the answer, “no,” it was the first time she was put on my radar. But Shelton as a filmmaker truly came into my life years later.
(I’ve told this story before, but I’m going to tell it again because I can.)
In college, I used my reckless fiscal practices to buy any and every film I could get my hands onto. This is a director I like? Sold. This has a fun cast? That’s now mine. The cover looks neat? Sure, why not. I stumbled upon “Your Sister’s Sister,” and knew I had to buy it. Upon watching it, I remember pacing during the closing credits. It felt magic or like I had a religious experience. I had never finished a film and felt electricity course through my veins before. But that’s what Shelton was able to do.
For much of my time as a person with a half-baked prefrontal cortex, I would choose my “favorite” director based off of what society told me to like. They were usually men, they were largely white, and, while they had technical skills, the stories which interested them were of little interest to me. It was in 2019 when “Sword of Trust” was released that I finally made the truest proclamation that Lynn Shelton was my favorite filmmaker. After telling people I was taking time off of work to see this film, “because it’s from my favorite filmmaker,” the words uttered felt natural. Like I had been meaning to say them for years but didn’t have the language for it - even though I absolutely did, I just didn’t have the clear mind for it yet. I’m glad I go there.
Shelton’s work extraordinarily always finds a way of finding its way to me when I need it most. For instance, I remember watching her 2013 film “Touchy Feely” in college. My 20-something self enjoyed the film. But it wasn’t until my 30’s, upon rewatch that I understood a little bit more. Age brought something new to a film that had already existed in my life. It was like coming back to your childhood home after years away, finding something, and questioning if that little detail had been there the whole time, you were just noticing it now.
On the Female Gaze: The Film Club podcast, we’ve been diving into Shelton’s work, and it is so stunning to find new ways to understand her films. Find the little moments that hit just a little different because of your own journey bringing you closer to that experience. Shelton’s love of people is what shines through each of her films. There is an attention to mess, always contextualizing, and always inviting us to love these complicated people not in spite of their struggles but because of them. I think it has become harder to find that in film - not impossible, but certainly more difficult. And I think that love and attention for people was not only for the characters on the screen but for those she worked with or encountered in some way. After her unexpected passing in 2020, so many of her colleagues and collaborators talked about her. There were no scandalous remarks or complicated histories. Instead, everyone shared touching, lovely stories about Shelton. She left an indelible mark on the film industry and the people who worked with her.
Photo by Matt Carr - Image from gettyimages.com and imdb.com
I will take any opportunity to talk about Lynn Shelton and her work. I think the stories we tell are a peak into who we are as people. Her films are so generous, thoughtful, and, for an introvert like myself, to witness interiority portrayed on screen is to have a little reflection of yourself in the most caring way. It is powerful to be seen, and it is even more powerful to feel your vulnerabilities cared for by someone else, even if for a moment.
I hope that if you’re reading this, whether it is on Lynn Shelton’s birthday or not, that it inspires you to watch one of her films or check out an episode - or two - of her television work. I promise, you’ll find something that will speak to you.
Happy Birthday, Lynn Shelton!