Review: Rye Lane

Photo Credit @Alfie Chapman

By Erin Deborah Waks

Most things Robbie Collin writes in the Telegraph I pretty much take as fact. It's rare I disagree with his view and, when I do, I usually put it down to a question of taste and style, rather than quality and validity of opinion. Desperate for an actually decent rom-com, along the lines of Notting Hill and About Time, I was intrigued by Collins' allusion to the Curtis formula I so adore. So when he gave Rye Lane five stars, I had to go and see it.

As Collin puts it: "The debut feature from 33-year-old Raine Allen-Miller adjusts and updates the classic Curtis formula to a small urban chunk of contemporary south London – and captures the place’s clatter and bustle with such undisguised love, it makes the blossoming of romance there feel like the most natural thing in the world."

He's too right. While the feature is not for everyone - its fast pace, slightly altered reality and loud music was not to my mother and grandmother's tastes, it's right up my street. A modern take on the classic rom-com, with its predictable ending and gorgeous characters intact, it was a perfect story in a perfect setting. 

The best thing about it, though, was just how normal it was. From the opening scene showing the protagonist crying in the bathroom, all the way through to the much more realistic romantic gesture Yas shows at the end - just showing up. In lieu of the cringey overwhelming displays of love and affection that give far too many of us the ick nowadays, we had arguments, ignoring each other's calls, good-looking but not too good-looking characters and actual streets of Peckham, lined with graffiti and all.

So as Dom (David Jonsson) and Yas (Vivian Oparah) fall slowly, romantically, but realistically, in love, I found myself thinking - this is the sort of updated rom-com formula I could really, really learn to enjoy.