What’s the opposite of a meet-cute? An awkward conversation between bathroom stalls while one person sobs and the other pees? That’s how Dom and Yas meet in “Rye Lane,” Raine Allen-Miller’s debut film that follows two young people through a whirlwind day of run-ins with exes, terrifying moped rides and, just maybe, falling for each other.

Dom (David Jonsson) and Yas (Vivian Oparah), both reeling from recent break ups, feel an instant connection with one another once they meet face-to-face outside of the bathroom stalls. After their not-meet-cute at a mutual friend’s art showing, they find themselves walking in the same direction, leading to easily flowing conversation through the streets of South London. “Rye Lane” becomes more than just a walking and talking movie, however, with hilarious digressions into a karaoke bar, a break-in to an ex’s house and snooping through underwear drawers at a garden party.

While Dom and Yas feel easy to get to know as characters, the film continues to peel back layers of their personalities, showing the genuine emotional honesty underneath Dom’s reserved temperament and revealing how Yas’s uninhibited nature hides a reticence to share her true feelings. Jonsson and Oparah create charismatic and endearing characters on their own, balancing joy with vulnerability, but together, their playful chemistry lights up the screen. When Dom and Yas smile into each other’s eyes, they communicate something beyond romantic or sexual chemistry — they just really, really like each other.

The film’s colors pop just like Yas and Dom’s chemistry, with inventive camerawork complementing the story’s lively and modern feel. Allen-Miller shoots “Rye Lane” with a wide lens, capturing not only Yas and Dom’s story but also the vibrant bustle of their South London setting filled with activity, such as girls making dance videos or a man dancing in a sparkly cowboy outfit, in the background of every frame.

Allen-Miller also uses unique flashback structures to place the characters and the audience in the moment whenever Dom or Yas tell each other stories from their past. For example, when Yas tells Dom the story of her break up, she plays out the scene on a stage while a theater of Doms look on and react. These surreal diversions enhance the connection the pair share and keep viewers engaged.

“Rye Lane” follows the expected rom-com formula, but it does so with such a fresh spin and charming characters that the story beats, from third-act break ups to grand romantic gestures, still surprise the audience. The film’s resolution comes across as completely earned, full of callbacks to earlier conversations between Dom and Yas. “Rye Lane” already feels like a rom-com classic, one that audiences will rewatch for years to come.

4.5 boat waves of 5