Martha is the far more interesting character, both because Seimetz is so outstanding and because her journey is more defined. It’s jarring to bounce between Lucy’s sexual awakening and her coming to grips with her father’s potential guilt and death, and the connection between the two themes is murky at best. It’s a sign of progress that films involving LGBT elements can explore larger stories, but this is a whole lot of story to explore. Still, it’s a lot to saddle a so-called “lesbian romance” with, which is how the film will no doubt be packaged. Joe Barton’s script has a lot to do, and he manages to balance the seemingly disparate elements with an expert touch. Mara and Page’s performances reveal subtle shifts in each character, and their producer credits make the concept of actors having agency during sex scenes more than mere lip service.ĭirector Tali Shalom-Ezer shows remarkable restraint with her third feature, infusing the densely packed material with nuance and levity. In these scenes, we see both Lucy’s awkwardness and Mercy’s aloofness melt away. Too often lesbian sex is hyperbolized and misrepresented in the movies, overused for thrills and underused for story. Without dwelling on too many salacious details, the sex scenes in “My Days of Mercy” satisfy (and satisfy, and satisfy). Thankfully, Mercy’s cat-and-mouse game only lasts so long, and the two show that Winnebago the most action it’s seen since Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep in “Ironweed.” (Page contorts her tiny features into so many acrobatic facial feats it’s as if she thinks ugly crying is the hallmark of good acting). Their first chaste kiss is shared after Lucy unloads her story, sobbing into Mercy’s beckoning lap. Mercy is an equally alluring and frustrating beloved, coming on strong and then backing off as soon as Lucy shows signs of reciprocation. Love, like justice, is rarely black and white.
#My days of mercy streaming movie
Martha insists she likes Weldon, and the movie never gives cause to doubt his decency. “How was your pro-boning?” Lucy asks him in the morning, her distaste emanating from the flippant taunt - the kind Page has built a career on delivering. There is nothing they would not do to help him, including Martha’s ongoing relationship with their lawyer, Weldon (Brian Geraghty). Mercy is the only bright spot in a bleak home life Lucy and Martha’s sole focus is on exonerating their father, whose innocence they defend passionately. Lucy is reluctant in person, but back home she is all secret smiles and hummed love songs. (Cue cheeky rhetorical questions like, “How is it possible you don’t have a boyfriend?”). Her father’s partner was murdered, and she’s confident that the key to her peace is justice served.ĭespite her apparent politics, Mercy is an ebullient flirt, interrupting Lucy’s smoke breaks to ply her with brazen compliments. Their connection is immediately charged, but complicated once Lucy realizes Mercy is there with the other side. Rolling out of the family’s weathered Winnebago, Lucy locks eyes with the stunningly put together Mercy (Mara). Where to Watch This Week’s New Movies, from ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret’ to ‘R.M.N.’ With her sister Martha (a smoldering Amy Seimetz) and a little brother nearly her size (Charlie Shotwell), Lucy spends weekends attending executions with a tight-knit community of death-penalty activists.
Produced by stars Ellen Page and Kate Mara, along with Killer Films’ Christine Vachon, the film tells the story of a young activist named Lucy (Page) whose life is altered unimaginably by a tragedy that landed her father on death row. That’s a tough sell, no matter your politics. Of course, that successful execution only goes so far in a lesbian romance about capital punishment.
The greatest triumph of “ My Days of Mercy” is that it handles such heavy subject matter with grace and - mercifully - as light a touch as good taste will allow. Throw in the wrench of sexual awakening, class differences, and the impending death of a parent, and you’ve got a lot of issues to handle in a single movie. Of all the possible twists in the star-crossed-lovers genre, falling in love across the chain link fences dividing pro– and anti–death penalty activists is nothing if not novel.
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