Top 100 Most Anticipated Films of 2011: Lone Scherfig’s One Day

#78. One Day

Director: Lone Scherfig
Writer(s): David Nicholls (And When Did You Last See Your Father?)
Producers: Nina Jacobson
Distributor: Focus Features

The Gist: Based on a novel by British author David Nicholls, the story charts an extraordinary relationship. Emma (Hathaway) and Dexter (Sturgess) meet on the night of their college graduation – July 15th, 1988. She is a working-class girl of principle and ambition who dreams of making the world a better place. He is a wealthy charmer who dreams that the world will be his playground. For the next two decades, every July 15th reveals to us how “Em” and “Dex” are faring, as their friendship ebbs and flows with the passing of the years.….(more)

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Patricia Clarkson, Romola Garai and Jodie Whittaker.

List Worthy Reasons…: I’m a sucker for narratives that work with a format where two young people wrestle with true desire by complicating matters with time and distance factors and ultimately stretch out chances at a reunion. Lone Scherfig showed promise and poise in her first non-Danish project in An Education, but I have a feeling this will cement her status as a go-to director for issues that del with the heart. If Hathaway is every bit as refreshing as her turn in Love & Other Drugs then I’m down for this rom drama.

Release Date/Status?: July 8th release.