I’m not one of those who wax poetic about the movies he sees, even the ones that I love. But I’d be lying if I said the first time I saw Rye Lane, my favorite film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, wasn’t special to me. British rom-coms generally aren’t my thing, but Raine Allen-Miller’s feature debut won me over with its vibrant sense of style, hip-hop soundtrack that might’ve pulled from my own personal playlist, and something that’s an unfortunate rarity in this day and age, a rom-com led by two young Black actors.
But even more than everything I just mentioned, the love these characters find for one another takes place over the course of a single day walking through South London, sharing their experiences in love and life, and building each other up along the way. There’s no hate, no tearing each down, just a lot of fun and love and an abundance of directorial bravado from Allen-Miller.
The cast is led by Vivian Oparah (Class) and David Jonsson (Industry) as Yas and Dom, respectively. Both are attempting to recover from bad break-ups, and as they both deal with the aftermath in their own ways, they learn to lean on one another for support by having one crazy adventurous day.
Rye Lane is set to hit Hulu on March 31st, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. To me, it’s the best movie of the year so far, and I think it will be for a lot of others, too. Check out the trailer below, as well as my interview with Oparah and Jonsson here.
From breakout director Raine Allen-Miller, RYE LANE is a romantic comedy that stars Vivian Oparah (Class, The Rebel) and David Jonsson (Industry, Deep State), as Yas and Dom, two twenty-somethings both reeling from bad break-ups, who connect over the course of an eventful day in South London – helping each other deal with their nightmare exes, and potentially restoring their faith in romance.
