entertainment
Stylist’s entertainment director Helen Bownass on the best films, TV and music to feast on this month
FILM: rye lane
My name’s Helen and my favourite film is . While I adore a gritty thriller or a sharp, dark comedy (of which I’m full to the brim, occurs in the toilet of a trendy gallery in Peckham in the early 2020s – as opposed to a road trip to New York in 1977 – the funny banter between its charismatic leads helps fill the Nora Ephron-shaped hole many modern romcoms leave empty. In that southeast London toilet is fragile accountant Dom (David Jonsson, ) who’s struggling to get over his break-up with his girlfriend of six years. He’s tried “Pilates. Working on my core. Working on me, getting positive,” but it’s not… working, given he’s crying in a public loo. His tears are overheard by aspiring costume maker Yas (Vivian Oparah) – a live wire and the sort of person who tells strangers she likes their outfit – also newly single. “He was trying to dilute my squash and I was like, not today Satan,” she recounts. The pair end up spending an impulsive and memorable day freewheeling around southeast London – a place which becomes just as vibrant a character in their story. You can probably guess what happens – which is much of the beauty of watching a romcom – but this debut from director Raine Allen-Miller manages to be fresh yet comfortingly familiar. It’s a vibrant love letter to the pain, and pleasure, of opening your heart again; to connecting with someone who sees you, fully; and to the possibility that offline dating isn’t just a dream. Yes the romcom is back – and I couldn’t be happier.
