renee carlino

You’ve seen this traditional story before, offered up in the great tradition of Dark Victory, Love Story, and, more recently, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. Boy meets girl, love happens, but oops, one of them is dying. This feature directorial debut from Julia Stiles, who co-wrote the screenplay with Renée Carlino based on Carlino’s novel, is in that mold. There’s a reason tearjerkers are a viable sub-genre. They’re love stories with a side of schadenfreude. Stiles mines the genre well, allowing for a bittersweet love story good enough to question its death trap January release.