• Home
  • Meetings
  • Events
  • Blog
  • E-Board
  • Around Boston
  • Join
Northeastern University's Film Enthusiasts Club
.

Mary Tobin on Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

5/6/2015

0 Comments

 
This article is part of NUFEC's ongoing coverage of IFFBoston 2015.
Film Awards: Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival

You can read this review in its entirety, but I’ll save you some time if you’re a busy person on a train or something and you’re reading this in a hurry: go see this movie. In the review below, I’m going to tell you how emotional, hilarious, heartbreaking, surprising, and fantastic this film is. I’m going to tell you that writing this review brings up nearly too many emotions about this film to continue writing. I’m going to keep my descriptions as pithy as possible to avoid the rabbit hole of feels I felt throughout and after watching this film. Go see it; blame me if you regret it.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl follows a high school senior, Greg (Thomas Mann), as he attempts to blend in to every self-identified group in his high school with enough anonymity to avoid deep relationships of any kind – friends, enemies, et cetera. It’s his survival strategy; he even describes his life-long companion, Earl (RJ Cyler), with whom he makes short film parodies of classic movies, as a 'co-worker’ rather than a best friend. Greg approaches applying to colleges as he does everything: if you don’t care much about it, nothing can go wrong. Greg’s mom (Connie Britton) soon insists he spend time with a girl in his class recently diagnosed with cancer, Rachel (Olivia Cooke). Despite his initial objections, Greg becomes friends with Rachel quickly and soon their friendship nearly engulfs his life entirely.

I’m having an incredibly difficult time writing about this film; it’s so full of heart and emotion that every time I sit down to write about it I start to feel to full of the feels to continue. But, alas, I will try to trip through this because it’s worth it. Please, just go easy on me.

First and foremost, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is undeniably hilarious and quick-witted, yet feels genuine and poignant. The film captures the emotional dichotomies of teenage life while avoiding the trap of feeling trite or mocking. Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon balances injection of the normalcies of everyday life with the serious trauma of cancer treatment, facing the subject of cancer head on without taking itself too seriously. I was consistently surprised at the expertise employed that made each character feel so tangible. 

For those turned off by the premise of a teenage girl contracting cancer, don’t worry so much; for the most part, the film doesn’t feel as serious as that suggests. Nick Offerman offers advice as Greg's father, though he's also a robe-clad philosophy professor whose afternoon snacks for Greg and Earl consist of squid or octopus or other oddities. The film is also interjected with scenes from the films Greg and Earl make that are parodies of classic films: we see one called Breathe Less, seemingly about a man with asthma, as a parody of the drama/romance Breathless, for example.

This film is beautiful, heartbreaking, heartwarming, funny, and genuine to a level I never expected. Go see it.

Grade: A+
Picture
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    AJ Martin
    Andy Robinson
    Anime
    Anthony Formicola
    Anu Gulati
    Arjun Agarwal
    Arzu Martinez
    Ben Garbow
    Brandon Isaacson
    Brian Hamilton
    Carter Sigl
    Dan Simeone
    Discussion
    Elizabeth Johnson Wilson
    Eliza Rosenberry
    Emily Fisler
    Erick Sanchez
    Eric Tatar
    Essays
    Festivals
    Gabrielle Ulubay
    Haley Emerson
    Here's Some Movies
    Ian Wolff
    IFF Boston
    IFFBoston 2015
    Interviews
    Isaac Feldberg
    Kunal Asarsa
    Library
    Lists
    Marguerite Darcy
    Marissa Marchese
    Mary Tobin
    Meghan Murphy
    Mike Muse
    Mitch Macro
    Neel Shah
    Netflix Instant Watch
    Parth Parekh
    Patrick Roos
    Profiles
    Reviews
    Short Films
    Television
    This Week In Movies
    Tyler Rosini

    Want to Write for Us?

    Contact NUFEC President Ian Wolff at nufecblog@gmail.com if you're interested in writing for this blog!

    Archives

    April 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2019
    September 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.