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A swift, bright 77 minutes not counting end credits, the South London-set “Rye Lane” (streaming on Hulu Friday) has two fantastic faces at its center and a wealth of vibrant visual detail in every frame.
The movie, director Raine Allen-Miller’s feature debut, takes its cue from Yas, the aspiring costume designer played by Vivian Oparah. Everything this blur of creative energy wears or carries is a riot of primary color and clashing texture; as photographed by Olan Collardy, the movie’s like that, too. Even when the screenplay favors an arch quality when we wouldn’t mind a looser, easier-going touch — it’s as stylized and storybook-ish a vision of modern London as the delightful “Paddington” films — the actors, chiefly Oparah and David Jonsson, make for highly engaging company.
Designer Yas and accountant Dom (Jonsson) meet in an art gallery unisex washroom, Dom weeping alone in a stall. He wants to be left alone for his “private moment,” but Yas, from the other side of the stall door, can’t help but ask what’s up, how he’s doing, and why he’s crying. Both people have recently been through relationship breakups with controlling, difficult partners, played mostly for laughs though, when it counts, also played for authentic hurt.
From the art gallery, Dom and Yas start walking and talking and strolling to Rye Lane Market. They head over to Brixton for burritos; Yas’s favored takeaway is called Love Guac’tually, and a famous “Love Actually” alum pops in for a cameo. The jokes bounce and weave, much like Yas. She’s a free spirit on the outside, at least, belonging to a long tradition of romantic-comic female leads predating even 1967′s “Barefoot in the Park.” Dom’s the uptight one, along for the ride. The actors are often filmed in separate, isolating shots so when they share the frame, the warmth and sparkle truly register.
The plot is just enough: Yas wants to break into her ex’s apartment to retrieve a Tribe Called Quest LP, which involves purloined keys and a visit with the ex’s mums. Dom, reeling from a six-year relationship he thought was The One, now lives back home with his parents. Both characters are navigating what it means to be lurching toward something like adulthood, without preconceptions about the love around the corner — or in their case, the love staring each other in the face.
A lot of it’s amusing. At a backyard party, Dom is forced by a guest to share his musical playlist and the resulting shuffle menu of depressing heartbreak songs (Bette Midler’s “The Rose,” et al.) grinds the festivities to a dead halt. The script by Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia lives and breathes for the next quip and retort, generously spreading the wit around.
There are limitations: “Rye Lane” has a brittle, tightly sprung rhythm recalling lots of early 21st-century American rom-coms including “Juno,” “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” and “(500) Days of Summer.” But there’s an obvious distinction at work here. The three films cited above, and a few million more besides, belong to the big mainstream rom-com realm of the familiar. “Rye Lane” celebrates Black romantic adventure, simply by finding new avenues (literal and figurative) to explore. Director Allen-Miller works extensively in commercials, and it shows, but her compositional eye is very effective.
And as the compulsive but tender joker and the straight arrow looking to fly, Oparah and Jonsson activate what’s there and provide, between the lines, what isn’t.
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‘RYE LANE’ — 3 stars (out of 4)
Rated: R (for language, some sexual content and nudity)
Running time: 1:22
How to watch: Premieres March 31 on Hulu
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©2023 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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