🍿62: Rye Lane

This week: surprising nude breakups, almost-ruined childhoods and a film that celebrates a candlelit Morley's 🍗

Mar 23, 2023

“Lesson Number One: All the time-travelling in the world can't make someone love you.”
~ About Time, 2013

You sound like you’re from London…

Hello - Mia here! You might remember my semi-scathing review of Men from way back in June 2022. And now I’m back, thanks to popular demand. Just kidding. We figured the residential South Londoner should take over this week.

Given that Rye Lane is set down the road from where I grew up, I was more than happy to put my critic’s cap on. Plus, it’s nice that Tom gets a break (from review writing, at least…)

Now for the headlines:

The budget film Lottery will be streamed to millions. In this, a man wins the lottery but risks losing it all to a pair of scam artists. The trailer looks intense. Read more.
Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel are set to star in the epic pop music melodrama Mother Mary, to be directed by David Lowery for A24. Read more.
Daisy Edgar-Jones will play the lead in Twisters. I’ve not seen the original, but ‘storm chasers on the brink of divorce’ is all I need to know. Read more.
Jordan Peele’s next film will arrive around Christmas in 2024. I threw up mid-Nope and missed the ending (we do love a romantic cinema date at Salty Popcorn HQ). Here’s hoping I’ll be less of a mess - and ready for another Peele masterpiece - by then. Read more.
Screenings of the horror film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey were cancelled in Hong Kong, without reason, this week. Read more.
And finally, as if there was no further proof needed that Hollywood was scraping the barrel for new IPs, Searchlight Pictures is making a movie about Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. Watch the clip.

Salty Popcorn is 100% free but you can support this independent publication by paying just £5 per month. In return, you’ll be the first to access upcoming premium features.

Upcoming Releases

You Hurt My Feelings

UK: TBC // USA: 26 May

Julia Louis-Dreyfus (AKA. Elaine Benes) stars in the upcoming rom-com, You Hurt My Feelings. It’s about the white lies we tell our partners to keep the peace and currently holds a 96% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Hunger

UK: 8 April // USA: 8 April

Aoy (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) runs her family’s local noodle restaurant. Her life is about to change when she meets Chef Paul (Nopachai Jayanama) who introduces her to the dark sides of the fine-dining industry. Something tells me this will be even creepier than The Menu…

Blackberry

UK: TBC // USA: 12 May

Starring Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton and Matt Johnson, Blackberry will tell the story of the epic rise and catastrophic fall of the world’s first smartphone. Trust us when we say the trailer makes the film look much better than it sounds.

Fact of the week

"If I put on clothes, it's over."

Jason Segel used his real-life experience to write Forgetting Sarah Marshall. He was also dumped naked, an anecdote that inspired the opening scene of the film.

Segel said that he was waiting (fully starkers) for his girlfriend to get home from the airport. When she returned, she said, ‘we need to talk…’ As soon as it happened, he knew that he had to write about it. Art is pain. And so is life, etc!

Review: Rye Lane

Star rating:

4 (out of 5)

Where to watch:

USA: Hulu (with just 1 week left!)

UK: Cinemas

Runtime:

1hr 22m

Director:

Raine Allen-Miller

Blurb:

After a chance encounter in a unisex toilet, twenty-somethings Yas (Vivian Oparah) and Dom (David Jonsson) — both reeling from bad breakups — spend an unplanned, yet eventful, day together across South London.

The review (NO spoilers):

Finding a solid British romcom has been an itch that the 2000s just hasn’t scratched for me. I love Bridget Jones and About Time, but honestly, it’s been far too long since anything has made me laugh or cry in quite the same way.

Enter Rye Lane. With its faultless cast and top one-liners (“He was trying to dilute my squash and I was like, not now, Satan”), this film has genuinely given me hope that the future of romcoms — and cinema — might actually be in safe hands.

When I watched the trailer for this film, I instantly thought ‘looks good, but bet they’ve shoved all the good bits into this preview and I’ll be bored halfway through’. Oh, how wrong I was.

I grinned through the entire film. Properly grinned.

Essentially, the film is about two young strangers, Yas (Vivian Oparah) and Dom (David Jonsson). We meet them at their chance encounter in an art gallery bathroom, where Dom is sobbing in a cubicle (we’ve all been there) and follow them as they roam about South London, sharing their hopes, dreams and disappointments.

The two of them end up on several mini-adventures over the course of a day, sassing cheating exes, hunting down stolen records and flirting over spicy wraps from “Love Guac’tually”, where there’s even a brief cameo from a certain Colin... Happy surprises all around.

The pacing was spot-on, something that’s crucial for an easily distractable bean like myself. The script was (for the most part) utterly brilliant and it was genuinely really funny. While it did fall slightly flat towards the end, I was captivated by the performances from Oparah and Jonsson.

While Dom is slightly too earnest to be a rom-com heartthrob for me, but Yas, with her optimism, kindness and wit, is truly a loveable character. Their chemistry, however, felt very real - though it did have more of an amiable feel to it, than a romantic one. But I think that’s what made it special. They didn’t just fumble in the toilets and then have a few forgettable dates in the aftermath, they fell into an instant friendship. And what’s more romantic than that?

Despite having a runtime that’s less than an hour and a half, the film pulls you into a trance that’s completely irresistible. Partially because we witness the slow burn that comes from opening up to someone new and them still thinking you’re brilliant. But also because every single shot does justice to the magic and the love that London will always have to offer.

In an interview with The Independent, director Raine Allen-Miller said: “All I wanted to do in this film is capture the things that are so special and important about South London. It is changing, and that’s why having this film is important. If it does change, at least we have this to look back on.”

As the shots panned over yet another location I recognised (Peckhamplex, Tola, Brixton market) I swooned over the spontaneity of the day date, the joy of having conversations with strangers and the possibility that awaits around every corner. And as Dom and Yas take each other down memory lane, you want to follow them. You’re scanning the background, taking in all the life happening around them, wondering where they’ll end up next.

Special kudos here to the costume director (and their friends) who watched the same showing as us and cheered when their names appeared in the closing credits. You have our respect and admiration for adding to the colourful brilliance of Rye Lane.

It’s not all about the metropolitan easter eggs, though. There’s also chaos, mopeds and moon cups. It’s a real ride. It left me thinking fondly of the well-known South-East proverb: “Are they worth missing the last train home for?”

Scroll down to see what’s in the next issue.

If you liked Rye Lane…

One Day

2011 | UK: Amazon Prime (£2.50) // US: Amazon Prime ($3.99)

Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dexter (Jim Sturgess) meet on the night of their university graduation. We see them every year on the anniversary of that date - 15th July.

Despite not being a couple, our protagonists share such a deep bond, and it’s this that I find particularly moving in Rye Lane. In One Day, Emma and Dexter look out for each other and celebrate their friendship every year for 20 years… My heart aches just thinking about it.

In the next issue:

Tetris

UK: 31 March // USA: 31 March | Watch the Trailer

Salty Popcorn