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It is always hard for film makers to bring something new to the cinematic marketplace. Most of the time they are not aiming for innovation, just wanting instead to entertain or move audiences, and if they manage to offer some surprising elements as well then that is enough of a win. This is even truer of movies that fit firmly into a particular narrative bracket and possibly the hardest category of all in this respect is the romantic comedy.

People have tried; Trainwreck, You People and Plus One were all rom coms that tried to shake things up in one way or another but each ultimately fell in line with the typical conventions at the end. Against all the odds Rye Lane has managed it though, this is a movie that wears it romantic comedy label boldly on its sleeve but still feels totally fresh and original, to the point that other films stand to be influenced by it. Notably it does this not by having an additional angle like Palm Springs or Yesterday; this is just a story of boy meets girl, but by the use of incredible wit, charm and characterisation.

There is also no denying that part of what is different here is the particular UK setting. Rye Lane, as South Londoners will know from the title, is filmed largely around Peckham and Brixton. These SE15 and SW9 locations bring a real life and refreshing vibrancy to the movie in an authentic way that they never managed with the London locals in Notting Hill. Speaking of which, the films of Richard Curtis (which themselves reinvented the rom com before becoming their own cliche) are strongly referenced here in the most wonderful manner. The methods with which debut director Raine Allen-Millar shoots the film come across as new too. This is a woman with smart ideas about what to do with a camera and the framing and cinematic trickery is as exciting as the city and the people.

In terms of those people, the movie most certainly belongs to the leads Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson. He feels nothing like the kind of man that normally features in these kinds of movies and has a great balance of confidence and vulnerability that really appeals. She on the other hand initially seems to fit into one of the worst rom com tropes, that of the Manic Pixie Dreamgirl, but this is completely dispelled by the end and is just one of the several ways that Allen-Miller and her writers Nathan Byron and Tom Melia subtly use and own the traits of the genre. This couple are surrounded by a measured group of equally skilled supporting actors as well and all of the mostly black cast have the most perfect comedy stylings.

That’s another thing that shouldn’t be disregarded, and is actually something that too many romantic comedies fail on; the film is really funny. It may own a small debt to Fleabag here in how it takes humour from the less discussed elements of human existence and gender but there is no theft here and this is only one type of comedic approach that is played with. There is similar use of conventions from traditional 80s British sitcoms with awkward social occasions and domestic disruption but it is all part of what is thrown in to the pot to make something familiar but with a totally different flavour.

Rye Lane then is an utter delight. If you are able to watch it at the Peckham Plex then you absolutely should, I managed to see it somewhere only a five minute walk from where the final on screen moments play out, but wherever you are get to a cinema and see it as soon as you can.