Letter from father saying she has a half brother and sister -

[beyondbaffled]

I want to say that I saw this movie within the last 5 or 6 years (in case this post gets lost it is now 2014).  I either watched it on Netflix, Hulu, or tripod/lycos back when they were trying out a movie service.  I sort of remember watching it around the time I watched Dogtooth (another movie that I have searched for and finally found after years of forgetting the name!) so I think I was searching through indie or festival films at the time.  I also mostly watch horror so it may have been in that category too.  Anyway enough background -

From what I remember the movie started out with this young girl, maybe in her early 20s.  She was living at home with a sick mother and if I remember correctly she receives a letter from her father who is either in jail or has died in jail.  The letter tells her that she has a half brother and a half sister.  It also either tells her to seek them out or she decides to do so on her own.
From there I only remember bits and pieces.  She is inside a small store, it seems like it was out in a desert town or something, and I think they sold plants like cactus and tools of some kind.  I think she knew the storekeeper or maybe just spoke to him while she was there. 
At some point she finds her siblings, only to discover that they are dating and do not know they are related.  The half sister may even be pregnant, but I don't remember.  I sort of remember scenes where she is watching them from afar and she may even talk to them in passing.
At some point she goes back home and her mother gets sick or has some sort of attack and I think instead of helping her or bringing her medicine the daughter lets her die.  I think the mother may have been abusive or the daughter was just tired of taking care of her.
In another scene the girl goes into what I think was her half brothers dorm room (he still doesn't know who she is) and I think either he tries to seduce her other she tries to seduce him.  This is another part that I don't remember for sure (I could be mixing up two movies at this point) but I think she kills her half brother.
At another point I remember her being out in the desert with a big bonfire and maybe some type of weapon.  I can't remember if she brings her half sister with her or not.

Anyway, I hope some of this makes sense and that someone else has seen this movie.  I do remember seeing the half sister in some other small budget film about the same time.  I don't remember there being any big name actors in the movie.  Thanks a ton!

[GoHawks]

I have no clue what this film might be; I just want to talk about the actual post.

This post is a perfect example of how I wish everyone, especially new members, would ask about movies they are looking for.  It has just about everything one could ask for.  Please indulge me as I go through it.

The subject line is meaningful and specific.  Too many queries are titled something like "What is this movie?" or "Help with this film!".  Before even reading the post, I already know something about this movie.  It helps to get the brain thinking along the right lines as you read more about the film in the body of the post.

The user mentions where and when (s?)he saw the film, with specifics.  I mean, obviously if you are asking about a film you have seen, then you have seen it.  But where?  In the theater?  On HBO or some other premium cable channel?  On regular broadcast TV?  And when?  Just saying something like "really old" doesn't really tell us much, without knowing what that means to the person who wrote it.  I have seen this phrase used to describe movies anywhere from the 1930s to five years ago, when the questioner was still in grade school!

The plot is described as well as can be remembered, in (I assume) chronological order, and with doubtful portions pointed out.  I can remember several movie descriptions on this board where the poster jumped all over the timeline of the movie without even mentioning that they were doing so.  I realize that not everyone remembers every detail of every movie; that is partly why this board is here.  It does help the rest of us tremendously, though, if unnecessary complications (e.g. knowingly describing the movie out of order) were not introduced.

Mention is made of the actors and what other films they may or may not have been in.  Once again, if you're asking about a film, you probably don't have a clue who was in it.  But if you do, mentioning that fact, or telling us that you don't know, helps us better figure it out for you.

Although this post does not do this, another nice thing to include (related to the last paragraph) is a list of films that you have already verified are not the film you are looking for.  I wouldn't ding this poster for not including any, as this description doesn't sound like it could fit more than one film anyway.

This post is broken up into manageable paragraphs.  This is a huge benefit.  Not everyone is Shakespeare, but if you expect someone else to read your writing, make it readable.  If I saw a post this long with no paragraph breaks, I wouldn't even bother reading it.  (I have seen a post this long on this board not only with no paragraph breaks, but the entire post was one long sentence!)

Lastly, and this one is mostly personal and probably doesn't belong with the rest, but the poster thanks us (presumably) for reading the post and giving some thought to what the movie might be.  Politeness always helps, in my book.  (Also, and I hesitate to mention this, but I hate it when someone says "Thanks in advance!".  No.  Thank me for doing something, or thank me for agreeing to do something, but don't thank me for something I haven't yet done.)

I realize that not every film search is amenable to all of the above suggestions.  Further, I do not claim that I always include all of the aforementioned information; on the contrary, I fully admit that I have been guilty of shall we say less than informative posts.  I am merely saying that I wish that all queries would be as informative as this post is.  I will now get off my soapbox and fade back into obscurity.  Thank you.