Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Cool quirkiness eventually gives way to poignant sincerity in a comedy drama that won both the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize at the 2015 Sundance film festival. Thomas Mann succeeds in imbuing his self-obsessed character, Greg, with a soulfulness that doesn't feel affected when his mother (Connie Britton) forces him to hang out with a girl (an understated Olivia Cooke), because she's been diagnosed with leukaemia. Inevitably, a genuine friendship develops based on their shared sense of humour - a pleasing twist of the surreal - which Greg otherwise expresses through spoof videos of classic movies ("A Sockwork Orange", "Senior Citizen Cane") crafted with his straight-talking pal Earl (a deadpan RJ Cyler). The relationship between boy and girl develops in a surprising way, however, eschewing romantic melodrama. Instead, it's rib-ticklingly funny, full of witty exchanges and neat visual flourishes by director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon. The fact that he also manages to deliver a heart-rending finish is testament to Jesse Andrews's sensitive adaptation of his own novel.