Rye Lane
The knowing references to Love Actually in this witty, charming film position it as a street-wise update on the British rom com. Its central couple inhabit a specific version of a part of London – Peckham and adjacent parts of SE postcodes – and we are introduced to a colourful cast of ‘characters’, friends and strangers, that they encounter as their relationship develops. The fact that both Yas (Vivian Oparah) and Dom (David Jonsson) are young black Londoners and the dialogue is a salty mix of contemporary yoofisms and loud profanities, can’t disguise that this is a traditionally constructed rom com, and all the more charming for that.
The set-up is that we encounter Dom crying in the toilets at his friend’s art exhibition devastated over the break up with his girlfriend of six years, Tabby, who had cheated on him with his best friend, Eric. Yas hears him sobbing in the unisex loos at a friend’s art exhibition. As they get chatting, the confident, loud Yas naturally falls into the role as Dom’s cheerer upper in chief. Therefore, as they leave the exhibition, she embroils him in sharp, witty conversation that seems an update on the screwball banter we have grown up on – When Harry Met Sally, My Girl Friday.
They then begin to wander around South London for the rest of the day, sparking off one another in a genuinely charming manner. There are two key set pieces that shape their day: the first is a meeting that Dom has to attend, which explains why his grief is so raw; and the second event is activated by Yas and helps us understand why she was so sympathetic to Dom at the start of the film.
I won’t say any more about these events but they explain why this film is a superior rom com. Whilst it follows the classic trajectory of meet cute, followed by jeopardy and then resolution, there is also character development and a degree of complexity in Yas’ behaviour in particular.
We are also introduced to a world of educated young people, who have ambitions, some hang ups and plenty of verve but remain utterly relateable, and who inhabit a world familiar from my youthful days in South London – and much more familiar than the more privileged world of Curtis’ rom coms. But I’m not trying to be divisive here as I love films like Four Weddings… and, as I said at the start, this is in the tradition of those sorts of rom com at their best. It’s also just the right length and ends on the South Bank. What’s not to like. If you want a light, funny but not dumb film, then I can thoroughly recommend it.