Snap, crackle and pop make this quirky film work
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (out of 4) Starring Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and Olivia Cooke. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. Opens June 12 at the Varsity. 105 minutes. PG Comedy? Drama? Satire? Tragedy?
All four snap, crackle, pop and simmer in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
The film defies easy categorization, although its rapturous Sundance applause and quirky title may seem to invite facile judgments.
Even the characters in it don’t know what to make of their situation.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” admits our wobbly narrator and the “me” of the story: Greg ( Project X’s Thomas Mann), a “terminally awkward” high school senior who lives in an affluent part of Pittsburgh.
He’s going to college next year whether he wants to or not, because that’s what’s expected of him. It’s easier for Greg to explain what the movie isn’t.
“This isn’t a touching, romantic story,” he assures us.
We’ll see about that, but happily the film upends expectations in every way.
Making quirk work, this affecting double prize winner at Sundance 2015, directs, acts, and writes to sublime truth.
The logline suggests a facsimile of The Fault in our Stars, but thankfully the only cloning sanctioned by director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (a Martin Scorsese protégé) and screenwriter Jesse Andrews (adapting his own novel) is the bizarro movie parodies made by Greg and his pal Earl (RJ Cyler).
With titles like A Sockwork Orange and Senior Citizen Kane, they’re aiming for self-amusement, not the Oscars. (Do you think maybe these guys have seen Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind?)
But what about the girl Rachel?
Rachel, played by Olivia Cooke, has leukemia and Greg’s mom (Connie Britton) orders him to be friends with her, even though he hasn’t spoken to Rachel for years.
The taciturn Earl complicates matters, acting as both catalyst and impediment to deeper involvement.
Just when you figure you’ve got this film sussed, it knocks you on the head, not just in content put also in form. Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung ( Stoker) employs all manner of camera stunts — push-ins, tracking shots, whip pans, wide angles, extreme close-ups, Dutch angles — as if he’s trying to draw attention to himself.
Ordinarily, this might be annoying, just as the use of claymation interludes and goofy intertitles could get awfully cloying.
The usual tropes about high school simply don’t apply to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, even if there are familiar types like the hot girl of nerd obsession (Katherine C. Hughes) or the cool teacher (Jon Bernthal) who tolerates oddball slackers.
The movie is not about anything at all, really.
We’re drawn into the lives of Greg, Earl and Rachel because the actors and the filmmaker and writer make us care about them.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl earns both its laughter and tears.