'Rye Lane' Review: Raine Allen-Miller Provides an Instant Classic with Vibrant Black British Rom-Com
Rye Lane
R: Language, some sexual content, and nudity
Runtime: 1 Hour and 22 Minutes
Production Companies: DJ Films, Turnover Films, BBC Film, BFI Film
Distributor: Searchlight Pictures
Director: Raine Allen-Miller
Writers: Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia
Cast: David Jonsson, Vivian Oparah
Release Date: March 31, 2023
Only On Hulu
The romantic comedy film sphere is rough for Black people. There are few offerings of good, straightforward rom-com movies depicting Black romance. Only Stella Meghie’s The Weekend resides as the cream of the crop. Black filmmakers usually paint us in a stereotypical light or have a colorist issue a la your quintessential Kenya Barris and Tyler Perry movies.
Gen-Z also has a rom-com issue (no, not counting that YA crap), with few options authentic to the twentysomething experience. Apart from Cooper Raiff’s Shithouse, the offerings are very minimal. Raine Allen-Miller blazed through the door, nabbing two crowns with one visually stylish feature debut through Rye Lane.
Set in contemporary Peckham, twentysomething accountant Dom (David Jonsson) and costume designer Yas (Vivian Oparah) are down on their luck following brutal breakups. Fate brings the heartbroken pair together at an art gallery event’s unisex bathroom. Dom, audibly sobbing in a stall, is heard by Yas, who gives him a verbal slagging as solace. The two finally meet through their mutual friend at the gallery installation, forming a connection and taking a stroll across the town. As they open up about their scorned exes, Yas hatches a plot for one to help the other get closure.
Your rom-com is only as good as your charming leads, and David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah deliver on that front in spades. I’m a sucker for the timid, sensitive guy paired with an unapologetic livewire. They share impeccable, magnetic chemistry full of irresistible charm through their sharp banter and perfect comedic timing. Given this is the first feature with Jonsson and Oparah in leading roles, the newcomers dish their star power out with their playful, youthful energy that leaves you wanting more. Jonsson balances his archetype without feeling whiny, and Oparah’s assertiveness is never overbearing. The screenplay speaks to the relatable notions of twentysomething struggles with identity and dreams, and the earnest performances offset its cheesy beats.
As Allen-Miller’s debut feature, she makes a hell of a calling card through her imaginative and vibrant direction. With the witty screenplay provided by Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia, Allen-Miller bumps up the humor by taking a welcoming surrealist approach, throwing an array of stylish visual gags, a free-spirited shot composition, and cutaways with each story Dom and Yas share. As the pair flashbacks to their breakup stories and “what if” scenarios, Allen-Miller has the characters jump through it like entering each other’s mind, sometimes having doubles for the same scene. For being a low-budget indie film, several dreamy sequences had me breathlessly questioning, “How did she do that?!” The film bursts with a colorful visual style in every setting, matching the upbeat, light-hearted tone. She and cinematographer Olan Collardy (whom she collaborated with on previous projects) dazzle by incorporating bright color grading that you hardly see in the vicinity of dark-skinned characters. There are several interior shots where neon-colored hues reflect on Dom and Yas, and I nearly shed a tear because of how mesmerizing it is to see this colorful imagery on dark-skinned Black characters!
As the twentysomething pair strolls across South London, Allen-Miller’s love for the cinematically-underrepresented Peckham is passionately poured onscreen. The wide fisheye lens with smooth camera dolly movement across various settings gives the film a breezy panoramic feel without edging to a gimmicky point. Originally, the film was meant to take place elsewhere in London. When Allen-Miller received Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia’s screenplay, she sent it to South London to give the community the onscreen love it deserved. Steve McQueen’s Lover’s Rock finally has a drinking buddy for a positive representation of the British-Caribbean community.
This section isn’t about the movie, but rather a message to any studio heads reading this review. Send this to theaters. Don’t “Only on Hulu” this. Don’t give Rye Lane the same treatment you gave Fire Island. Do you know that Black people will show up in droves for this? This film is a perfect romance that doesn’t only appeal to us based on positive word of mouth, but it’s accessible to white Gen-Z audiences. Give it a limited release because this is a hell of a crowd-pleaser. I would do unspeakable things to have Rye Lane in American theaters, baby!
I can’t stress this enough, but Rye Lane is the movie I’ve been desperately awaiting. Raine Allen-Miller refreshingly made an earnest Black romantic comedy with cartoonish visual surrealist humor and colorful imagery. She lets its Black characters exist in their community without referring to race or Black trauma tropes. It’s an accessible film for all but even more meaningful for Black audiences who trudge through the trauma trash to find some light-hearted greatness. And clocking in at under a 90-minute runtime elevates its rewatch factor. 2023 has merely begun, and Rye Lane is already one of my new all-time favorites.
