Screenplay Written by Jesse Andrews
based upon his original novel
Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
**** (four stars)
RATED PG 13
This one nearly laid me out flat.
Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl," his adaptation of the Jesse Andrews novel, just may keep you at a certain arms length due to any perceptions of this being yet another "disease tearjerker" or at least, a pale imitation of Director Josh Boone's "The Fault In Our Stars" (2014), itself based upon the blockbuster and beloved Josh Greene novel. In some respects, I suppose that I held my suspicions as well, as I hate to be emotionally manipulated through unearned storytelling, combined with my own considerable affections for "The Fault In Our Stars." Most of all, I just don't have an affinity for those "sickness" movies as they do tend to fall into pathetic cliches, Hallmark sentiments, plastic caricatures and no real understanding of the very real pain involved for the diseased and those who care for them. In short, there's only one "Terms Of Endearment" (1983) for a reason!
In the case of "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl," I experienced a purely unique cinematic vision that stood so confidently upon its feet, providing me with a familiar story that was presented in a fashion that I had not quite seen before. It is a film that circumvents all of the cliches through its considerable sharp humor, deeply perceptive characters, and a certain emotional rawness that cut straight to the bone for me. For fans of "The Fault In Our Stars" (of which I do indeed count myself), you may disagree with me, but for my sense and sensibilities, "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" delves, deeper, hurts even more and unveils an exquisitely painful ode to friendship, mortality and the different yet equally painful act of attempting to disengage with life even as life is forcing you to engage with it. For the remainder of you, I feel that "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" is one of 2015's very highest efforts and should definitely not be ignored.
"Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" stars Thomas Mann (who kind of resembles a teen-aged Beck) as Greg Gaines, an introverted, awkward, lanky high school senior prone to dangerous levels of self-deprecation who lives with his overbearing Mother (Connie Britton) and anti-social Father (Nick Offerman), a tenured Professor who endlessly pontificates, eats exotic foods, adores foreign films and never seems to teach any classes.
Greg drifts through his days in a haze of ironic distance as he dispassionately engages with all of his school's social groups (which he has mentally and meticulously compartmentalized) yet has emotionally attached himself to none. He houses a healthy crush over the pretty and curvaceous Madison (Katherine C. Hughes), yet never pursues her. He eats his lunches in the offices of Mr. McCarthy (Jon Bernthal), his highly unorthodox yet fully respected History teacher, in order to avoid his classmates. And his best friend is Earl (RJ Cyler), who lives on the poor side of town, has been friends with Greg since kindergarten, although Greg refers to him as his "business associate."
Greg and Earl's relationship and "business" (such as it is), is filmmaking, an on-going project forged through their shared love of all forms of cinema, especially foreign and art films. As a creative outlet, the twosome create parody versions of classic movies like "Grumpy Cul-De-Sac" (instead of "Mean Streets," for instance) and they have amassed an oeuvre that even Criterion would be proud of if only the films weren't so purposefully and hysterically ridiculous.
Greg's life is forever altered when his Mother informs him that Rachel Kushner (Olivia Cooke), a neighbor and classmate has developed Stage 4 leukemia. His Mother demands that he venture to Rachel's home and befriend her, a direction Greg agrees to with a massive amount of reluctance. After spending days upon days in Rachel's bedroom together, she and Greg soon begin to tentatively build a friendship, which then solidifies as Earl convinces Greg to show Rachel their film collection, which she enjoys immensely. Once Rachel begins chemotherapy treatments, Madison further suggests that Greg create a special film with Earl specifically for Rachel, a request to which he reluctantly agrees.
As their bond grows stronger and Rachel grows sicker, Greg is ultimately forced to face his greatest fears about himself and the relationships with those closest to him, in order to deal with the future he is desperately trying to avoid.
Alfonso's Gomez-Rejon's "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" is a tremendous work which transcends the limitations and pitfalls of its respective genre so that it far exceeds any notion of being a mere "disease of the week" movie. Like "The Fault In Our Stars," the film also boasts a collective of intelligent and verbose teenagers armed with an acerbic and unsentimental wit, all dealing with a life threatening disease. But where that film contained a certain polish and more traditional narrative structure, Gomez-Rejon has injected "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" with an outlook that is scruffier, more askew and cinematically inventive.
Collaborating richly with Cinematographer Chung-hoon Chung, Gomez-Rejon has weaved a narrative that is at times non-linear, possesses abrupt shifts in tone from riotously comedic to emotionally pummeling and is often punctuated by all manner of dazzling visual effects and presentations, from the variety of camera angels to usages of stop motion animation. Additionally, the overall sound of the film, which contains healthy helpings of Brian Eno's instrumental music and songs, provides the film with a more left of center palate that was admirable and provocatively appealing to me. Listen closely music fans and you will hear Eno's "Here Comes The Warm Jets" (released January 1974) playing constantly in Rachel's bedroom.
But, let's not turn this review or the film as a whole into a competition between it and "The Fault In Our Stars," because for all of their similarities, the differences truly set them apart from each other, therefore making for two films that are creatively and emotionally effective. In fact, "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" reminded me less of "The Fault In Our Stars" and more of a film like Director Jason Reitman's "Juno" (2007), another film starring a verbose teenager with an acerbic wit faced with a life altering event, as well as one in which I loved from the very beginning and felt only got better and better the longer the story unfolded.
Like "Juno," there has already been some minor criticisms launched against "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" for possibly being too self-consciously quirky. To that, I disregard that opinion completely, especially as you all know very well, self-conscious levels of quirk do not make it past me very easily and most certainly, not without some considerable scorn on my part. I really felt that like "Juno," any sense of quirkiness was purely story driven and contained a greater profundity and pathos than it may seem. For all of the visual window dressing and sizable humor Gomez-Rejon applies to the film, everything is created to serve Greg's outlook of the world in which he inhabits and therefore, his emotional stability, or lack thereof.
Greg's emotional distance from everyone and everything in his life is fueled by his own lack of self-confidence which has then cemented itself into stages of perpetual inertia and even depression. In Greg's defense, both of his parents (especially his Father, whom I am wondering may even be slightly agoraphobic), are fair to poor in regards to being emotional role models. To that end, both Earl and Rachel are also afflicted with the primary adults in their lives being emotionally unreliable or absent as Rachel's Mother (Molly Shannon), is a depressed, alcoholic with a disturbingly too close for comfort demeanor with Greg and Earl and Earl's Mother is a depressed shut-in whom we never see in the film. This threesome do indeed form a tender bond, like the trio in Writer/Director Rick Famuyiwa's "Dope," based upon them all facing uncertain and life changing futures. Where both Earl and especially Rachel take up the challenges that life has thrown at them, Greg continues to retreat, kicking and screaming all along the way.
Greg's fear of being harmed by any sense of disappointment or emotional trauma is beautifully displayed through Gomez-Rejon's visual presentation. As in Director Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" (2010), where the titular hero views existence itself essentially as one continuous video game to shield himself from romantic wounds, Greg views life as if it were a feature film for the exact same reasons.
Every time the lovely Madison appears, his mind travels to the stop motion animation of a kindly woodland creature being stomped to death by a moose. Although he and Earl have created over 40 parody films together, much like the characters in Writer/Director Michel Gondry's "Be Kind Rewind" (2008) and Writer/Director J.J. Abrams' "Super 8" (2011), once it is time to create for Rachel, directing a film without artifice, Greg's creatively prolific nature stalls him. Oddly enough, Greg is really not too far removed from the leading character of Malcolm in "Dope" as they each posses a certain equality of ingenuity. But where Malcolm knows precisely of his desires and utilizes his brains to move forwards, Greg utilizes the very same set of skills to attempt to keep the inevitable at bay.
For Greg, films are an illusion but once they become real, he has lost his one means to hide away from the world that he is so afraid of. In turn, Gomez-Rejon's film grows decidedly stark and the visual razzle dazzle evaporates completely, as in one excellent and extremely painful sequence set in Rachel's bedroom, where she and Greg argue about their respective futures, from whether to apply for college or even to continue chemotherapy treatments. The camera remains static, the silence between them grows more piercing and the ache created is fully organic and filled with palpable agony.
Thomas Mann, RJ Cyler and especially Olivia Cooke, all relative unknowns, are completely magnetic in their performances. They all feel natural, unforced, and completely capable of juggling a series of conflicting and complex emotions and motivations with seemingly effortless ease. Again, I have to make special note of how these three actors each handle the many scenes of silence throughout the film. Gomez-Rejon packs a world of meaning into the sequences between Greg and Rachel, as they silently watch the parody films together, their friendship growing stronger and more perilous. The film's final sequences, also merged brilliantly with Brian Eno's music, suggest a mortality that is as shattering as it is nearly psychedelic and an aftermath that is fraught with new discoveries and by film's end, I simply could not move.
So far this year, I have been surprisingly overrun with the emotional waves contained and beautifully delivered in both Director Bill Pohlad's "Love And Mercy" and Director Pete Doctor's latest Pixar masterpiece, "Inside Out." With Alejandro Gomez-Rejon's "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl," I now have a third film this year that has so artfully worked me over in the very best possible fashion. With an enormous soul, endless inventiveness and even serving a subtle and sly cinematic critique against the lazy and emotionally empty headed big budget motion pictures clogging our theater screens, "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" is another film to showcase the glories that exist inside of movies that do not serve as any sort of sequel, prequel, remake, re-boot or re-imagining. It is a work of personal, heartfelt vision that truly demands your attention during a movie season that would potentially swamp a film like this one.
Furthermore, "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" also possesses the still unbelievable audacity of treating teenagers as real, three dimensional human beings deserving of stories that are sensitive, honestly representative of their age and are dramatic and artful as well as entertaining. Perhaps this film will finally usher in a stage where films about teenagers are not dismissively viewed as mere "teen films," but solely as "films."
And for my money, Alejandro Gomez-Rejon's "Me And Earl And The Dying Girl" is one of the very best films of 2015.
No comments:
Post a Comment