AJ O'Leary

about • portfolio • essays • reviews • contact

Movie Review: “My Days of Mercy” (2017)

A politically-tinged love story with two dynamic leads is mired in an identity crisis

Minor spoilers follow.

There comes a time in every renowned actor’s career when they make a movie or several that is Deep and Carries A Message and Really Says A Lot About Society. For George Clooney, it’s deadly serious pieces about American imperialism like Syriana; for Kristen Stewart, it’s about miscarriages of justice geographically closer to home in Camp X-Ray; for Matt Damon, satires with truth at their core like The Informant! and so on and so forth.

For Elliot Page, he of Juno and a critically-acclaimed superhero TV series among other things, and Kate Mara, she of House of Cards and a superhero film she’d likely rather you forget happened, this passion project takes the form of My Days of Mercy, a film they star in and co-produced. Set against the backdrop of the eternally raging debate over the death penalty in the United States, we follow Lucy Moro (Page) and sister Martha (Amy Seimetz) as they advocate for the acquittal of their father, condemned to death row for the alleged murder of their mother. Standing opposite Lucy both physically at demonstrations and ideologically is Mercy Bromage (Mara), a police officer’s daughter and lawyer who thinks the death penalty is just great. The two move from enemies to lovers at an astonishing pace, eventually using the protests - which see the two, and their fellow side-takers, criss-crossing the United States depending on where the most controversial death row cases happen to be - as a pretext to striking up a romance.

I feel a little superficial and overly simplistic jumping so quickly to the part where Lucy and Mercy follow each other across the country to have sex when there’s a topic so integral to America’s tortured story as the death penalty at play, and yet, that’s all My Days of Mercy really is - a love story with something else thrown in to give it a basic appearance of heft beyond “Watch Elliot Page and Kate Mara hit it off!”. It’s a shame because their acting skills and chemistry are undeniable, and so too is their passion for political activism if their off-camera lives are any indicator.

Page and Mara’s mannerisms as two young politically-opposed adults realizing they harbor feelings for one another are sensitive, endearing, and eminently believable, and the heartbreak Lucy endures upon learning the truth behind Mercy’s relationship status feels so real; and yet, it always seems a little awkward juxtaposed with a conversation over the death penalty’s status in America. The few scenes that probe Lucy’s father’s case in greater detail and ask us to ponder his guilt for ourselves are thoughtfully laid out and even poignant at times, but are few and far between and overshadowed by the romance clearly meant to be the central focus of the film.

If My Days of Mercy had gone even farther in being a love story in the vein of Lovesong or amplified its political angle, it could be a great film; instead, it’s two hours mired in an identity crisis that I give a tepid recommendation to only if you’re starved for chemistry-filled queer love scenes on film. That said, it’s still well-acted enough to pull it up to a weak three stars.

Overall Score: 3 / 5

If you liked this review, let me know.

Click here to view my other reviews.