‘Rye Lane’ stuns critics: Director Raine Allen-Miller’s feature debut is ‘a sign that cinema is still alive’
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“Rye Lane” may not have been the buzziest title at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, but it was among the event’s most broadly acclaimed. Commercial and music video director Raine Allen-Miller’s feature debut is about a chance meeting between heartbroken twentysomethings in Peckham. The multicultural, working-class British neighborhood is as integral to the romantic comedy as lead characters Dom (David Jonsson) and Yas (Vivian Oparah). Their stark contrast—he’s a timid accountant; she’s a livewire who works in fashion—makes them a classic odd-couple pairing. Across one serendipitous day, the two rediscover their zeal for love, life, and South London.
Critics are equally taken by “Rye Lane’s” performances and its vivid, textured filmmaking. Esther Zuckerman (IndieWire) writes, “Audiences will long for Allen-Miller’s heroes to get together, but will likely also crave the burritos they eat and itch to grab some pints and crisps with them. It’s both a vibrant introduction to a corner of the city that, at least this American, knew little about, and a calling card for an emerging director who knows that the story of two people falling for each other should be as visually engaging as anything else in theaters.” Donald Clarke (The Irish Times) simply but no less enthusiastically praises the film as “a sign that cinema is still alive” and argues that it’s been at least a generation since a British film has “done such imaginative work in restructuring the romantic comedy.”
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SEE Hulu’s ‘Rye Lane’ trailer brings vibrant romantic comedy to South London [Watch]
Comparisons have been made to Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy and the work of Richard Curtis (there’s even a cameo from one of the “Love Actually” director’s regulars), but “Rye Lane” is hardly derivative. Clarisse Loughrey (The Independent) calls it “a romcom self-assured enough to acknowledge its predecessors without cowering behind their legacies,” adding, “Allen-Miller’s vision is very much her own: an exhilarating mix of lengthy tracking shots, kaleidoscopic colours, and razor-sharp edits.”
Not everyone, however, is charmed by the film’s aesthetic. David Robb (Slant), though conceding that the movie’s “ostentatious visual flourishes…might do a good job of enlivening what’s a relatively straightforward boy-meets-girl story,” calls the story “frictionless.” Zuckerman doesn’t entirely disagree, but ultimately feels that the director’s “energetic approach to filming Dom and Yas’ adventures makes up for whatever the narrative might be lacking.”
“Rye Lane,” which as of now holds a 98% Rotten Tomatoes approval rating and an 81 average on Metacritic, is streaming exclusively on Hulu.
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