Sweet and scrappy, Rye Lane follows two young Brits who meet cute at a gallery opening and proceed to spend the day walking and talking through South London, which director Raine Allen-Miller, making her feature debut, paints with the broad comic strokes of Spike Lee’s Bed-Stuy in Do the Right Thing. Allen-Miller shares an active camera with Lee as well, from the opening shot that tracks above a series of toilet stalls to the frequently employed extreme close-ups. The movie is lively and inventive and grounded by the exceedingly likable performances from the two leads: David Jonsson as Dom, a soft-spoken soul recently dumped by his longtime girlfriend, and Vivian Oparah as Yas, an aspiring costume designer whose comic boldness may be covering for something. Written by Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia, Rye Lane may verge on corny at times in much of its humor and certainly its ending, but thanks to Jonsson and Oparah, you’re rooting for these two in every moment.
(12/30/2023)
