Me and Earl and the Dying Girl depends for its success on the extent to which it's able to find a convincing integration of, on the one hand, its hyper-foregrounded knowingness about the conventions of narrative, genre and cinema that start with its title and play out in the narration, structuring and cinematography of the film itself, and on the other, its desire to present something heartfelt and emotionally resonant - which plays out amidst a specific kind of overtly indie tone and quirk in terms of characterisation and presentation of story.
I think its intentions are good, and it's probably aware of the hazards created by the plot choices it makes (and the misdirections in which it indulges) - but in the end it doesn't manage to resolve that tension in a coherent and authentically emotional (as opposed to sentimental) way, and, in missing that mark, dooms itself to being ultimately unsatisfying. I wonder if, in a different time, I might have responded differently to it - but we can only take these things as we find ourselves when we do so.
(w/ Alex)
I think its intentions are good, and it's probably aware of the hazards created by the plot choices it makes (and the misdirections in which it indulges) - but in the end it doesn't manage to resolve that tension in a coherent and authentically emotional (as opposed to sentimental) way, and, in missing that mark, dooms itself to being ultimately unsatisfying. I wonder if, in a different time, I might have responded differently to it - but we can only take these things as we find ourselves when we do so.
(w/ Alex)
