''My Days of Mercy'' is a 2017

romantic drama film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

directed by

Tali Shalom Ezer Tali Shalom-Ezer ( he, טלי שלום עזר; born 1978) is an Israeli filmmaker, screenwriter, and director. She is best known for her debut feature, ''Princess (2014 film), Princess'' (2014) which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival as ...

and written by

Joe Barton Joseph Linus Barton (born September 15, 1949) is an American politician who represented in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2019. The district included Arlington, part of Fort Worth, and several small towns and rural areas south ...

. It stars

Kate Mara Kate Rooney Mara ( ; born February 27, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for work in television, playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama ''House of Cards'' (2013–2014; 2016), computer analyst Shari Rothenberg in t ...

Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor. He has received various accolades, including an Academy Award nomination, two BAFTA Awards and Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and a Satellite Award. Page publi ...

Amy Seimetz Amy Lynne Seimetz is an American actress and filmmaker. She has appeared in several productions, including AMC's '' The Killing'', HBO's ''Family Tree'', and films like '' Upstream Color'', '' Alien: Covenant'', ''Pet Sematary'', and ''No Sudden ...

Brian Geraghty Brian Timothy Geraghty (born May 13, 1975) is an American actor, known for his roles in the 2005 film '' Jarhead'', the 2008 film ''The Hurt Locker'', and in the 2012 film ''Flight'', along with his recurring role in the HBO drama series ''Board ...

, and

Elias Koteas Elias Koteas (; el, Ηλίας Κοτέας; born March 11, 1961) is a Canadian actor. He is known for playing Alvin "Al" Olinsky in the ''Chicago'' franchise, as well as appearing in lead and supporting roles in numerous films. He won the Cana ...

. It screened at the

2017 Toronto International Film Festival The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 7 to 17 September 2017. There were fourteen programmes, with the Vanguard and City to City programmes both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down b ...

on September 8, 2017, as a Gala Presentation. It was released in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2019, by Signature Entertainment, and was released in the United States on July 5, 2019, by

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

Plot

Lucy Moro and her older sister Martha are anti-death penalty protestors, fighting for the acquittal of their father Simon, who is on

death row Death row, also known as condemned row, is a place in a prison that houses inmates awaiting execution after being convicted of a capital crime and sentenced to death. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution ...

for the murder of their mother eight years ago. The sisters live in their parents' house in a small Ohio town, and travel to various states in a mobile home, together with their little 10-year-old brother Ben. At one demonstration outside a prison in Illinois, Lucy meets Mercy Bromage, a lawyer whose father is a police officer with ties to the death penalty case the crowd is protesting. Despite the political tensions between the two, Lucy and Mercy grow closer to each other. They begin to keep in contact over Skype. During a solo excursion to a demonstration in Missouri, Lucy and Mercy start a romance. Meanwhile, Martha is determined to free Simon (who she still believes is innocent) and manages to hire a lawyer, who is then able to get a four-month stay of execution to look for legal loopholes or any new evidence to re-open the case. When the last of Martha and Lucy's legal appeals is denied and the evidence continues to point towards Simon, a distraught Lucy travels alone to Illinois to visit Mercy. There, she learns that Mercy still lives with her parents and has a boyfriend. Lucy breaks up with her. Regardless, Mercy attends Simon's execution with the sisters. Martha proposes they sell the house and move away for a fresh start, and Ben and Lucy agree. Six months later, Lucy is a waitress in California when Mercy shows up. Mercy attempts to rekindle their relationship, but Lucy initially rejects her before deciding to give her another chance.

Cast

as Lucy Moro *

as Mercy Bromage *

as Martha Moro * Charlie Shotwell as Ben Moro *

as Weldon *

as Simon Moro *

Beau Knapp Beau Christian Knapp (born April 17, 1989) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in '' The Signal'' (2014), '' Run All Night'' (2015), and '' Southpaw'' (2015). Knapp portrayed a lead villain in ''Death Wish'' (2018), the sixth installm ...

as Toby *

Tonya Pinkins Tonya Pinkins (born May 30, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. Her award-winning debut feature film ''RED PILL'' was an official selection at the 2021 Pan African Film Festival, won the Best Black Lives Matter Feature and Best First Fea ...

as Agatha * Jake Robinson as Ian * Jordan Trovillion as Katlin

Production

In August 2016,

Pablo Schreiber Pablo Tell Schreiber (born April 26, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is best known for his stage work and for portraying Nick Sobotka on ''The Wire'' (2003), William Lewis on '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2013–2014), Mad S ...

and

were cast in the film, with

directing from a screenplay by Joe Barton.

Christine Vachon Christine Vachon (; born November 21, 1962) is an American film producer active in the American independent film sector. Christine Vachon produced Todd Haynes' first feature, ''Poison'', which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the 1991 Sundan ...

and David Hinojosa served as producers under their

Killer Films Killer Films is a New York City-based independent film production company founded by movie producers Christine Vachon and Pamela Koffler in 1995. The company has produced a number of the most acclaimed American independent films over the past tw ...

banner, alongside Mara and Page, while Robert Halmi Jr. and Jim Reeve will serve as executive producers through their Great Point Media banner along with executive producer Karri O'Reilly. In September 2016,

joined the cast of the film, replacing Schreiber.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...

began on September 19, 2016.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on September 9, 2017. It was released in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2019, by Signature Entertainment, and was released in the United States on July 5, 2019, by

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film has an approval rating of 89% based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Though ''My Days of Mercy'' knotty romance drifts into melodrama, it's grounded by Ellen Page and Kate Mara's exceptional chemistry." The film was selected to compete for the Premio Maguey's Best Film award at the 33rd

Guadalajara International Film Festival The Guadalajara International Film Festival ( es, Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara) is a week-long film festival held each March in the Mexican city of Guadalajara since 1986. The presence in Guadalajara of delegates from other impor ...

, where Page was awarded in the Best Performance category.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Rotten Tomatoes, my_days_of_mercy 2017 films 2017 independent films 2017 LGBT-related films 2017 romantic drama films American independent films American LGBT-related films American romantic drama films British independent films British LGBT-related films British romantic drama films Films produced by Christine Vachon Films produced by Elliot Page Killer Films films Lesbian-related films LGBT-related romantic drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films 2010s British films