Photo credit: Diego Voss-Wikipedia
Despite its somewhat superfluous title, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a surprising gem written by Jesse Andrews (based on his novel) and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, who has mainly worked in TV.
The opening scene narrated by high school senior Greg (Thomas Mann) introduces us to his “low-key good terms” with everyone in an attempt to remain invisible without having any real friends. In fact, earl (RJ Cyler) is Greg’s only friend, and together they create movie shorts satirizing classics, including A Sockwork Orange and Senior Citizen Cane.
Greg’s self-loathing and earl’s anecdotal witticisms are conveyed in their shorts, as well as Gomez-Rejon and Andrews’s obvious love of movies reminiscent of 500 Days Of Summer (2009) with regards to parallel storytelling and cinematic utterance. When Greg’s mother forces him to befriend their neighbor’s daughter, Rachel (a.k.a. “the dying girl” played by Olivia Cooke), who has been diagnosed with leukemia, he is surprised by her beauty and clever frankness. They begin a sweet friendship but without the usual hollywood sappiness and cliché dialogue.
All the while, we remain in Greg’s psyche as senior year passes by with a slew of stereotypical family members, teenage cliques and subcultures, and teachers. The filmmakers recognize this old formula and add much comic relief and realism to hold our attention well.
When Rachel’s illness becomes more serious, the film shifts to a more dramatic tone. Greg learns valuable lessons about apathy and what it means to love someone more than oneself.
This film about cinema, relationships and the reality of living life develops its own relationship to how these elements have been explored in the past. We are left wondering who we are and who we want to be in this endless world of possibility and unpredictability.
Released in 2015, the movie had a limited run in Tel Aviv. It's available on DVD and streaming.
THE ARTS
“The idea behind each one was, we took a film that we liked and made the title stupider. And
then made a new film to reflect the new stupid title. It's a formula that only produces horrible
films, but for some reason we keep using it.”
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Reviewed by Michael Lipiner
Despite its somewhat superfluous title, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a surprising cinematic
gem written by Jesse Andrews (also based on his novel) and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon,
who has mainly worked in television. The opening scene narrated by high school senior Greg
(Thomas Mann) introduces us to his “low-key good terms” with everyone in an attempt to
remain invisible without having any real friends, and is accompanied with brilliant tracking
shots, slow motion and stop-motion animation. In fact, Earl (RJ Cyler) is Greg’s only friend, and
together they create movie shorts that satirize Hollywood classics, including A Sockwork Orange
and Senior Citizen Cane. Greg’s self-loathing and Earl’s anecdotal witticisms are conveyed in
their shorts, as well as Gomez-Rejon and Andrews’s obvious love of movies reminiscent of 500
Days Of Summer (2009) with regards to parallel storytelling and cinematic utterance.
When Greg’s mother forces him to befriend their neighbor’s daughter, Rachel (a.k.a. “the dying
girl” played by Olivia Cooke), who has just been diagnosed with leukemia, he reluctantly goes to
her house, but is surprised by her beauty and clever frankness. They begin a sweet friendship but
without the usual Hollywood sappiness and cliché dialogue, and the film takes its time
developing their relationship. All the while, we remain in Greg’s psyche as senior year passes by
with a slew of stereotypical family members, teenage cliques and subcultures, and teachers.
Nonetheless, the filmmakers recognize this old formula and add much comic relief and realism
to hold our attention well.
When Rachel’s illness becomes more serious, the film shifts seamlessly to a more dramatic tone
and the solemn scenes are just as strong. Greg learns valuable lessons about apathy and what it
means to love someone more than oneself. His creativity as an artist evolves, as do his maturity
and humanness. This film about cinema, relationships and the reality of living life develops its
own relationship to how these elements have been explored in the past. We are left wondering
who we are and who we want to be in this endless world of possibility and unpredictability.
Me, And Earl And The Dying Girl was released in 2015 but had a limited run in theaters in Tel
Aviv. It's available on DVD or streaming