Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: Growing Up & Making Movies

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl was written by Jesse Andrews (adapted from his novel of the same name) and directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, a man who has always had a passion for movies. In high school, he would borrow friends' cameras to make short films, and then he embarked on a career in Hollywood by becoming a personal assistant to stalwart directors like Martin Scorsese and Nora Ephron. His passion for filmmaking is evident throughout this film, both because its protagonist is a teenage boy who makes bizarre and wonderful short films, but also because the movie itself is a self-referential, winking ode to the power of storytelling and cinema.

Thomas Mann plays Greg, a high school senior who has carefully navigated the social world of adolescence and established a reputation as someone who is affable and gets along with everyone while not actually being friends with anyone. He has constructed a careful veneer of anonymity so he inspires zero comment. But all of that changes when his parents (played by the fantastic duo of Connie Britton and Nick Offerman) force him to go see Rachel (Olivia Cooke), a girl who goes to his school and has just been diagnosed with leukemia. He is extremely reluctant to visit her, and she is extremely reluctant to receive a pity visit, but they endure it for the sake of their pushy mothers. And of course, what follows is a sweet and awkward friendship, inspired by their weird sense of humor and the oddity of their personal circumstances.

That takes care of "Me" and "the Dying Girl." The last member of the trio is Earl (RJ Cyler), who is a kid that Greg makes ridiculous short film parodies with. They take classic movies, change the titles to puns (so for example, Rashomon becomes Monorash), and film them with low-budget homemade special effects. Despite the fact that they have made dozens of films together, Greg still refers to Earl as his "colleague," because he thinks having friends is some sort of vulnerability. However, Greg, Rachel, and Earl clearly form a fast friendship, and not labeling it as such doesn't make it any less true.

The entire movie is narrated by Greg, who directly addresses the audience, breaking the fourth wall and drawing you into this engaging story. And apart from the central trio, every single character in this movie has some thoroughly weird and novel backstory; Greg's father is a connoisseur of exotic foods, the students at his high school are a motley collection of oddballs, and even Mr. McCarthy (Jon Bernthal), the History teacher, gets to deliver a touching spiel about his dead father that has its own little moral. This is a perfect movie for people who love storytelling and unpredictability.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is bittersweet and lovely, and brimming with characters that resemble no one you have ever met before. It suggests that we are all a bunch of weirdos with our own little tales to tell. It is remarkable to watch where these characters end up, and at the end, you have a story that is poignant and satisfying. The tone of this movie is darkly comic and sarcastic, but it has a soft center that will grab your heart and soul. There's a reason it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance this year; watch and learn how a tiny movie about three strange kids can bring an audience roaring to its feet.