MY DAYS OF MERCY plays TIFF 2017

MY DAYS OF MERCY introduces us to the Morrow family. The patriarch (Elias Koteas) sits on death row, convicted of killing the matriarch eight years ago. In the face of this, the Morrow children – Martha, Lucy, and Benjamin (Amy Seimetz, Ellen Page, and Charlie Shotwell) have become protestors against capital punishment. Month after month, they go from state to state in their battered old RV to make their voices heard at prisons set to execute various inmates.

At one such protest, Lucy catches the eye of Mercy (Kate Mara), and the two become very close very quick. As the film unfolds, we watch their curious kinship unfold, and pull back the blind to learn the whole truth about the killing that set everything in-motion.

The marriage of a love story and a family tragedy might seem strange on the surface. After all, when your dad is weeks from being executed, how hot and bothered can that beautiful stranger get you? However, watching Lucy seek comfort in Mercy’s arms speaks to a truth that many don’t want to admit; that sometimes one can feel so damned mixed-up, that physical affection is the only release.

Ellen Page plays Lucy in a way that suggests she’s been stuck in the mud for years – spiritually and emotionally stunted by this tragedy that has befallen her family. So when sweet release presents itself in the form of a bright and smiling Mercy, should anyone be surprised that she takes hold of the lifeline?

MY DAYS OF MERCY wants us to consider who we believe ourselves to be, and who we truly are. Lucy and Mercy forge a connection in the curious bubble they build for themselves, but that doesn’t mean each one is seeing a complete picture of the other. This happens to people more and more everyday in an increasingly digital world. The question we eventually must ask ourselves, is which version of us is real – that which we show to the many, or that which we show to just one?

This is a movie about not letting any one moment or one belief define who we are. In a world where people continually choose sides and assign labels, it’s getting harder and harder to see any one person as anything other than “that side” or “that label”. What aren’t we learning about each-other and ourselves? And what sort of happiness are we denying ourselves?

MY DAYS OF MERCY wants us to be honest with ourselves and one-another – both in our darkest moments, and every moment after that.