FILM REVIEW: White Lie - TriCoast Entertainment.

First, I would like to say, that contrary to popular belief of those who know me, I don’t like to be a Negative Nancy about films for the sake of it. Any film, well the majority of them, are borne out of the passion, love and dreams of somebody; it takes a hell of a lot of sweat and hard work to create even a short film, let alone a feature length professional production; and so it is with a heavy heart to say that I found White Lie an incredibly boring film... although everything about it was pretty perfect.

A compendium of conversations between two people, White Lie tells the story of one girl’s descent into madness, tangled within a web of lies and deceit. Who knew a Canadian could be so bad, eh? Kacey Rohl stars as Katie Arneson, a despicable individual who fakes cancer in order to get money, attention and a place at a good college. Her life takes a turn for the worse as she struggles to keep on top of the multiple lies she has told, and her image as a strong-willed cancer fighter is distorted into one of a desperate and weak liar.

Like many films that centre on a big lie, you know this won’t end well from the start. Regardless of whether she carries on the charade or comes clean, you just know there won’t be a happy ending. That’s fine, however I think it would have been more interesting if it was revealed to the viewer, say after half an hour, that Katie’s cancer diagnosis was faked; that way we could have had some twist and unexpected development along the way. Unfortunately the first scene of the film is Katie keeping up this well-established lie, and so for me the plot thread remained relatively flat with no surprises at all.

White Lie reminded me of the 2016 Romanian tragedy/drama film Bacalaureat, another incredibly boring film consisting of conversational scenes where a father lies and bribes his way into securing his daughter a place at a good university. However, unlike Bacalaureat, where I was bored and numbed to the point where I didn’t care for anyone or anything, White Lie not only had me bored, but also frustrated and annoyed. If there is a word, 'depressed' seems too strong a word for that, this film didn’t depress me, but one of the characters are likeable whatsoever, they’re either monsters or complete imbeciles. Am I supposed to feel for Katie’s moronic girlfriend? Should I be bothered that this contemptible doctor, who forges Katie’s medical records, mother dies? Because I did not. The only character in this film who had any sense of humanity was Katie’s widowed father, and he is not portrayed much better than the rest of them.

Now when I wrote earlier that everything about it was pretty perfect, I ought to have said that the technical side of this film was pretty perfect. The soundtrack by Lev Lewis was good, it worked particular well in setting an atmosphere in the film, and perfectly conveyed the whirlwind going on towards the end of the film when Katie’s lie falls apart. Maybe the odd bit here and there feels a bit out of place, but whether that was down to Lev Lewis or the directors or editor I’m not sure. Again the cinematography is great, some scenes are really beautifully lit and framed, one scene stood out in particular around the 50 minute mark which reminded me of the end scene in The Godfather where Kay views Michael through the door. However, again, I feel that the odd scene here are there looked quite desaturated which didn’t really fit the mood or didn’t achieve its intended effect as we are already aware of this big lie; it’s not like the viewer is unaware of the deceit and is sold on this bleak cancer diagnosis. The performances were good, any reservations I have with characterisation is more down to the writing and direction rather than the actors' performances. Even though this film just feels like 90 minutes of conversations, there is a healthy change in settings. I think it would have been too much had this not been the case, you get a real feel of the chasing up and moving about Katie has to make in order to keep up this lie.

Well done Mr Lewis, well done Mr Thomas, you’ve created a very well made film that succeeded in what you were achieving, which was to leave me annoyed and frustrated, but at the cost that I will never want to see this film again, nor would I recommend it to anyone. Aside from the initial emotions when the film ended, White Lie did not really leave an impact on me. Whilst I found this film to be boring for the most part, I would definitely like to see more films by these directors. Everything else about the film was rather exceptional and I think if Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas develop their writing a little bit more they will certainly be on the right track for making some truly wonderful and thought provoking films.

Reviewer - Daryl Griffin
on - 18/12/20