Another iconic and beautiful indie film, the small and simple moments in Me, Earl and the Dying Girl make the audience feel closer to the characters, which I think is a huge factor that many films miss out on, when they don’t let the audience build a relationship with the characters.
Greg, an awkward teen with one friend, Earl, whom he calls a ‘coworker’ is forced to befriend a girl with leukemia (Rachel) and they form an unlikely friendship over Greg and Earl’s film projects they’ve made together. Greg narrates the story through the movie, his self-doubt gets the best of him as he feels he doesn’t fit into any group in high school and is hesitant to apply to college. Rachel convinces him to apply to college and although the storyline sounds like a cliché high school romance movie, it is anything but cliché. There are witty captions, an 80’s themed colour pallet and no hint of romance between Greg and Rachel.
Throughout the movie we see Greg categorizing the school into groups, isolating himself from others and even refusing to acknowledge anyone as his friend. We see his character development as he begins to build a friendship with Rachel and despite setbacks from school and college deferrals, the audience sees him descend into maturity as he learns from life’s tough lessons. Rachel helps Greg overcome his self-doubt and fear of applying to college because of people not liking him.
With a beautiful soundtrack, dry humour and amazing camerawork, this is a real heartwarming tragedy.