Another discovery at the Sundance Film Festival, Me, Earl and the Dying Girl follows Greg, a 17 year old loner and his ‘business associate’ Earl.
While Earl’s family life isn’t too rosy (he lives in the bad neighbourhood), Greg comes from a family of bohemians whose Criterion DVD collection provides hours of entertainment for the boys growing up. Spending their youth bonding over their inexplicable affinity with world cinema, they remake the classics (from “A Sockwork Orange” to “Pooping Tom”) and have a particular place in their hearts for the dulcet tones of the one and only Werner Herzog.
Having found the escape from social contact Greg so clearly craves in these film-related projects, his mother’s request for him to visit his childhood friend Rachel (Olivia Cooke) who has just been diagnosed with leukaemia, is particularly challenging moment for the awkward teen.
Unique in its sincere depiction of the deep bonds of platonic friendship between teens across gender, class and race, this is a film that is surely set to be a benchmark film for a generation.