Review of Rye Lane

Rye Lane (2023)
7/10
A strange rom com that magically happens to work. 7.5/10
6 August 2023
Rye Lane is about a young man that is still hung up on his past relationship that ended 3 months ago after he learned that she was cheating on him with one of his friends. He is still processing this breakup as he accidently runs into Yas at an art gallery. She feels bad for his sadness, so she gives him a day they won't ever forget.

This was an unexpected movie. I quite liked it. The colours were so vibrant and I really enjoyed the stylistic approach of the fish eye lens. A lot of people didn't like the look of this film, but I think the lens worked with the themes of the film. Their crazy day makes sense when we are following the characters. They go on a bunch of adventures that seem so unlikely, but they just work. Sometimes life is like that. We have these strange days that seem to be normal when we live them but when we try to explain them, it sounds crazy. Following Dom and Yas, it just makes sense. But when they explain their day to Yas's ex boyfriend, he thinks that they are crazy and that what leads them to these events make no sense. I think the lens work is a reflection of the uncanny moments of life that seem unlikely and strange, but somehow still happen. The fish eye lens for me represents the outsider perspective on a otherwise normal situation.

I loved the bold colours. It brightened up the gray themes of the film. The lack of confidence, the helplessness of being at the bottom of the ladder when you have big dreams, and the fear of failure are themes that are so well done. The conversations in this film are outstanding. There's some great dialogue that was performed exquisitely by David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah. I loved to follow along this romance and to have that (literal) full circle moment at the end. It was refreshing to see so much style represented in a rom com. There's also such a lack of black representation in romance films, so it was nice to see this for once. I hope to see more of that in the future.
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