The Beauty of ‘Me And Earl And The Dying Girl’
High school is a complex time for any teenager, especially when all you want to do is not make waves, and just slide by. But life’s never like that, and complex things always find a way of coming around. This is exactly the case for young filmmaker Greg Gaines (Thomas Mann), whose outlook is forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
A Romantic Tale Of Two Friends
From the very beginning, Greg makes it clear that this is not a romantic film— and it’s not. However, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is about the romance of friendship, and how you can become so close to someone that you can’t bear to lose them. Both Thomas Mann and Olivia Cooke excel here as Greg and Rachel, who are forced together by unforeseen circumstances, but come to completely love one another platonically. This dynamic duo are captivating as their respective characters, and you can’t help but fall in love as they make their journey throughout the film.
Prepare To Get Quirky
Part of what makes Me and Earl and the Dying Girl so watchable is the level of quirky comedic timing, and off-beat support casting that director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon has employed. There’s Jon Bernthal as tatted up, rebel history teacher Mr. McCarthy, Connie Britton as Greg’s very insistent, and somewhat too good natured mother, and Molly Shannon as Rachel’s overly-friendly mother, who also becomes quite liberal with a glass a wine. But overall the standout goes to Nick Offerman as Greg’s bathrobe wearing, philosophizing father, and whose best friend happens to be his cat. Nuff said.
A Powerful New Voice
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is also a stunning debut for director Alfonso Gomez-Rejoin. Inspired by the passing of his own father, the director chose to adapt the book as both a tribute to him, and as a way express himself. Thanks to Gomez-Rejoin’s very personal connection to the subject matter, you completely feel his passion in every frame. Equal parts off-beat comedy and intense drama, along with having a healthy dose of pent up teenage emotion, Gomez-Rejoin takes his audiences to a place that they’re not expecting to go, and will certainly have them in tears as the last frame draws to a close.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a stunning piece of cinema that audiences will find themselves completely mesmerised by. Go see it now.
Image source: 20th Century Fox.
