Rye Lane is why I love watching and reviewing movies. I had only heard of this after reupping Disney’s streaming bundle. I went in with little to no expectations, and the movie slowly, confidently washed over me. I knew Rye Lane was something when I found myself sitting up and leaning a little closer to the TV, eager for the next great moment the movie had in store.
Like all great meet cutes, Rye Lane starts in a bathroom. In this museum gender neutral bathroom in London, Dom (David Jonsson) is a wreck in a stall, miserable after his longtime girlfriend Gia (Karene Peter) cheated on him. Spotting his pink sneakers and attempting to cheer him up is Yas (Vivian Oparah), also recently going through a breakup with her boyfriend Jules (Malcolm Atobrah). While chatting and walking through Brixton, the pair stop talking about their relationship history and start realizing maybe their two wrongs are leading to something so, so right.
When Rye Lane is right, it captures that pure magic of love’s spark. At its best, this walk and talk through Brixton conjured the feelings I had watching Before Sunrise, using the mundane to make something incredible. Probably the most memorable scene is a dinner between Gia, her new boyfriend, and Dom and Yas. Yas’s joie de vivre pulls Dom from the depths of his brooding, extracting the fun loving guy underneath. From that moment, we see the pair feed off the confidence the other gives, revealing more and more of themselves. This pushes Dom and Yas into a series of fun mini adventures through their magical night, excited to see what might happen next, including Karaoke, barbecues, and maybe a little light B&E. With each new adventure, Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia’s script shows how the connection the pair share is something special, thrilling and scaring them in equal measure.
As good as the script is, Rye Lane really works because of David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah. The pair make for a wonderful modern match. Jonsson completely lives his feelings from minute one, unafraid to show how happy, sad, confused, scared, he is. Oparah is the opposite: content to will through her tough times through sheer force of charm and charisma. The movie’s bread and butter is Jonsson’s bewilderment/excitement and Oparah’s spontaneity and conversational improvisation as he tries to keep up, failing and succeeding in equal measure. Even when you’re struggling to keep up with the thick English accents, Jonsson and Oparah make it clear to the audience how their feeling moment to moment, making Rye Lane easy to follow and easier to fall in love with.
Sometimes all you need is 82 minutes, karaoke, museums, and one incredible cameo to make an amazing movie. Rye Lane proves that if your story has the goods, it doesn’t need fat. Just get right to the point, so everyone can fall in love and swoon for the rest of the night.