I inevitably am slightly biased when it comes to this film, seeing as a lot of it is an homage to cinema and Vietnamese food - two things that always skew my opinion favourably. Despite this, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is one of the best independent American films of the year.

The IMDB plot summary, as good and as vague as any, sums the film up as this: "High schooler Greg, who spends most of his time making parodies of classic movies with his co-worker Earl, finds his outlook forever altered after befriending a classmate who has just been diagnosed with cancer." A disclaimer for those who go in to watch a film about "The Dying Girl"- this is not The Fault In Our Stars, the title makes it pretty clear: ME And Earl And The Dying Girl.

The fact that this film leaves Earl and Rachel to breathe, whilst concentrating on Greg, is one of the most inspired choices in the screenplay. Greg goes through a fairly classic character arc through the film, yet it feels thoroughly deserved and realistic by the end, even if the circumstances around him feel slightly orchestrated. Greg is played by Thomas Mann, whose star value seems to have gone up after this film, now billed for at least six big-budget films. He brings a likeable dimension of sarcasm to his otherwise potentially dislikable character, allowing the audience to not completely disengage from the beginning of the film. Olivia Cooke is wonderful as the quiet dying girl, played with enough positivity to make all the downsides feel twice as crushing.

Earl, played by RJ Cyler, is the real gem of the film. From being homeless with his family before Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, to now getting ready to act in a film with Brad Pitt, Cyler's life transition is well-deserved. He plays Earl perfectly with a heavy-eyelidded, gravelly-voiced comic persona, providing the most laughs as well as the most brutally honest truths to the film. Definitely one to look out for.

The soundtrack, featuring original music by Brian Eno, is excellently curated and makes perfect sense as the logical step forward in American indie cinema's soundtrack: rather than the popular hipster pop rock songs that plagued independent cinema over the past 10 years, post-rock seems a more genuine and emotional genre to apply. Of course, Brian Eno's work is not "post-rock"per se, but the song playing during the climax of the film sounds like it singlehandedly inspired Explosions In The Sky.

Since 2014, there has been a slow but marked change from 2000's mumblecore films, with a lack of formal cinematography or editing to a more stable and creative approach to classic cinematic techniques. Me And Earl And The Dying Girl demonstrates this change perfectly, and hopefully will be a jumping-off point for new independent cinema. Chung-hoon Chung (cinematographer), David Trachtenberg (editor) and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon (director) come together to create a visually engaging and entertaining film, more visually creative than 95% of similarly budgeted indie films. If the editing and cinematography was half-hearted, the film would have easily slipped into a clichéd indie film.

The aforementioned climax of the film is surprisingly heart-wrenching and deserved - a rare thing in "cancer" films where it seems to be cynical manipulation of the audience's emotions. If there is anything negative to be said about the film, it's the fact that the dialogue, though believable, is to banter-y, too witty for everyday talk - something that indie film has to shake off the mumblecore era. However, this is a minor detail in an otherwise superior independent high-school drama.