Estranged siblings reconnect in Chris Osborn’s abstract scifi drama Sisters, and the reunion shifts from shaky to tense when the more rootless of the two blames her prolonged absence on an alien abduction. Is her wild story true, or is something far more earthbound (like mental illness) to blame?
The short film offers suggestions both ways, but it also implies that the women have had conflicts around similar fantastical claims in the past. The performances—Jade Lane as a weary single mom who’s unsure whether to believe her unpredictable sister; Lindsay Burdge as a fragile soul who’s convinced that E.T. has it in for her—are excellent, and the ambiguous story offers a clever way to examine a family that’s been fractured by forces (alien or otherwise) beyond its control.