The two characters are living in Ohio and Illinois, and with me located smack in the middle of their imagined romance, I can attest that there’s still plenty of people figuring it out like they are.Įven if their romance does move a bit slow to you, there’s a consistent sweetness to it that makes it easy to root for. That doesn’t mean it’s inaccurate, however. source: Lionsgateīecause films routinely ignore this area of the country, the lives of these two may feel like something from queer cinema of five or ten years ago. This is small-town America, and the life of an openly queer person here isn’t as simple as it is in other places. Anyone familiar with queer cinema will know its beats by heart: tentative flirtation and longing glances make for some extended foreplay, and once they finally give in hidden complications threaten to pull them apart. While this may make My Days of Mercy sound like a depressing watch (and, let’s face it, it kind of is), the love story is vibrant enough to break through the gloom. A Formulaic Love Story Still Warms The Heart

That Seimetz is able to clearly get across her family’s predicament and Mara is able to sell the love story means each storyline gets the fleshing out it needs, it just isn’t coming from the right person. The two sisters were left with a young brother to raise when their father was arrested, and she was no more ready to deal with their messed up situation than her sister. Seimetz in particular does a lot with her screen time, playing the elder sister in she and Page’s broken family with a self-assuredness that slowly deteriorates to reveal the desperation that requires it. Picking up that slack is Mara and Amy Seimetz, who handle the prickly moments with much greater ease. She can handle the more straightforward scenes of love and grief, but whenever her character is shifting and growing she fails to make those leaps feel natural. Given her body of work, I wouldn’t classify her as a performer with great range, and a character as shut down as Lucy requires subtle work that is a bit beyond her. It’s unfortunate, then, that Page is the one that struggles most with her role. Trauma stemming from her mother’s death and her father sitting on death row has left her closed off, and its her slow awakening that really drives the film forward. Namely, it takes a long look at Page’s Lucy, a young person adrift in small-town middle America. Performances Rule The Dayįor all its hefty plot elements, My Days of Mercy is, at its heart, a character piece. It’s this tenor that pushes it out of vogue more than its faults, and in the end its inability to find a market means we’ll overlook a film willing to take a loving but wide-eyed look at a complicated scenario. Their differences don’t lead to histrionics or finger-pointing, instead taking the route of level-headed disagreements and across the aisle understanding. You see, the lovebirds meet at an execution, with Page’s Lucy protesting for abolishing the practice and Mara’s Mercy there in support. The film not only has a gentle, queer love story that feels a bit retro, it also takes on the ever-marketable death penalty debate (rake in those dollars, baby). Just look at what happened to My Days of Mercy: an Ellen Page and Kate Mara starring drama that premiered at TIFF 2017 to fairly strong reviews is just now getting a limited theatrical and VOD release stateside, and that’s in large part because it doesn’t really fit into today’s marketplace. Add in the varying desires of casual audiences, representation-oriented critics, and the queer community itself and you’ve got a small, constantly moving target to hit if you want to make a satisfying film.Īnd I know, art is not beholden to majority rule or even to representation standards, but it is good if your film can find its place in the market. Politics both on and off the screen are moving rapidly, and with that comes changing expectations for these movies. Having a queer film sit in the can for nearly two years must be a terrifying thing in today’s world.

My days of mercy 2017