Finding Emily
One night as he's working a Manchester City University Student Union dance, Owen (Spike Fearn, "Aftersun") is thunderstruck by a woman (Sadie Soverall, "Afterburn") in elaborate eye makeup, her long, red hair bound up with braids and glittery wings affixed to her back. The two find immediate rapport, but when she's called away by friends to head to another party, Owen only gets her first name and a number he later realizes is missing a digit. Owen now has a mission - "Finding Emily."
Laura's Review: B
All romantic comedies need to have an obstacle and this one's is Emily herself - no, not the fairy version Owen's looking for but the first student he's referred to as a possibility, Emily Raine (Angourie Rice, HBO's 'Mare of Easttown'), the American psychology student who is looking to secure a resident Visa via her thesis that romantic love has outlived its usefulness in human evolution and causes people like Owen to self-sabotage (the film begins with the Sigmund Freud quote 'Love is a state of temporary psychosis'). Of course this Emily's dogged anti-romance stance is based on her own unrequited feelings for Tristan (Timothy Innes), but in using Owen as a case study, she'll set him on a disastrous path, and of course, as these two fall for each other, it's only a matter of time before Owen discovers what she's up to (and, as usual, will jettison). So, while debuting director Alicia MacDonald and screenwriter Rachel Hirons believe they've dodged romcom cliches, they haven't. What they have done is update them for today's digital world, something Owen is poorly equipped to navigate.
Somehow, Raine is able to get her hands on all the email addresses of the 318 Emilys who attend the university and encourages Owen to send a message. What she fails to recommend is that he bcc them, and so his email becomes Internet fodder for speculation, Owen's in-jokes misinterpreted in myriad ways. Student body president Emily Thewlis (Kat Ronney) finds the email threatening and an invasion of privacy, marching into Dean Emily Watkinson's (Minnie Driver) office demanding action, then rallying on campus. The story makes its way into the school paper, Owen becoming known as 'the email guy,' and when school podcaster Laura Lewis (Nadia Parkes) offers him an interview, Owen sees it as a way to clear his name (Raine advises it against it), not realizing it will also be filmed, exposing his identity and costing him his job. But Owen's sincerity and a song he's composed for Emily which he performs also shifts the conversation, many of 318 now rooting for him. Owen's musicianship not only adds to his allure but also fits into the whole Manchester scene which the filmmakers use to their advantage, opening with New Order's 'Blue Monday' and including the likes of The Durutti Column's 'Otis' and James Blake's cover of Joy Division's 'Atmosphere.'
Hirons has fleshed out the two main characters' worlds with zesty supporting players. Owen is made vulnerable by having recently lost his mom, his older brother, Matt (Jack Riddiford) and his girlfriend Freya (Isabella Laughland) determined to sell the house they've inherited that he isn't ready to leave, putting him in similar psychological space to the students about to graduate. Fearn is incredibly appealing, sweet and down to earth and trained on voice and enough guitar to end the film with a credible music video. Add Amber Grappy as Matt's friend, a supportive lesbian bartender. Rice gradually tamps down her enthusiasm for both Tristan and her thesis, her ethics continually questioned by Professor Westlake (Prassana Puwanarajah), as her affection for Owen grows and while what Raine is doing isn't at all cool, the actress imbues her with compromised charm and free-spirited joy on a dance floor. As her roommate Anna, Cora Kirk recognizes her friend's foibles while always on hand to pull Emily out of a funk. Anthony J. Abraham is appealingly upbeat as Anna's boyfriend Kyle.
Cinematographer Rachel Clark both isolates romantic partners amidst Manchester nightclubs and landmarks and places them amidst hundreds of Emilys, both real and imagined. Thankfully, for a film reliant on emails and papers, there is little focus on screens. This may be Alicia MacDonald's first feature, but it's a confident one, well cast, well acted and full of Manchester flavor.
Focus Features releases "Finding Emily" in theaters on 8/28/26.
