White Lie

The best cinema always gets you thinking and if a film ever had the power to do that you've just found it. How you scale and share your empathy between cause and effect might reveal a lot about the way you perceive the world around you. On the one hand - she'll get what's coming to her, deceitful so and so and, on the other, what has happened to cause this young woman to behave this way. Either way, whatever your bias, I think you'll find it hard to ignore that at the centre of this is an outstanding and convincing performance from Kacey Rohl.

I think this is a good production but it made me feel very sand even after the viewing. It's painful to watch and that's what the directors wanted.

The story is pretty simple but good: an avalanche of lies that grow out of control and you'll feel the pain of each of them.

There are two things that doon't fit in my opinion: you would never ask so many pushy specific questions to person with cancer I wouldn't at least, also some of the questions she gets continuously asked by random people seem to arrive from a specialised doctor (some terms I personally have never heard in my life)..

These two elements made it a bit unreal, but that's me.

Nonetheless I would suggest the viewing

I wondered what i'd get with this and i was surprised by the intensity. a very good performance by the actors and the directors did their job well. i would recommend this movie if you like suspenseful character driven movies where you don't know what's going to happen next. a very nice treat!

It would have been easy to produce a film with this premise and provide a cut-out 'mean girl' as the central character. Thankfully the writers and producers here are much smarter and have given us something quite unique.

Kacey Rohl's performance as Katie Arneson is brilliant. Morally her behaviour is appalling, but is played with such subtlety that I found myself strangely sympathetic.

She is obviously mentally ill, whether by whim of fate or something darker in her past. Her increasingly desperate attempts to keep the lie alive do not feel evil or driven by avarice, but by the need to hold on to the acceptance and love she finds with her 'diagnosis'.

The film lacks the usual Hollywood trappings and as such feels like an almost documentary-like record of a period in Katie's life. Be prepared to be thrown into the story (and out of it again) with almost no exposition or explanation and certainly no satisfying 'gotcha!' ending.

Overall a teriffic piece of work by all involved, which I highly recommend.

This is a real hidden gem. Going into the film, I saw the trailer and read the synopsis. Both sounded interesting enough. Nothing could prepare me for how good this would be. Not that I thought it would be bad, but the plot sounded very simple. And that was confirmed after finishing the film. But even the most simple plot can make an amazing film if the acting, direction, and writing are all on point, as was the case with this film.

Kacey Rohl gives a really riveting, convincing performance. The amount of tension and suspense she's able to imbue on screen is remarkable. How she can emote so much with her eyes is really excellent. You feel bad for her. You feel she's a monster. You feel she's mentally unstable for telling this lie to everyone that she has cancer when in reality she doesn't. Amber Anderson is also great as her compassionate girlfriend. The writing was very strong and taut. There were no wasted moments. The directors do a great job of putting the audience in the headspace of the main character, and as a result, you're constantly on-edge. It feels like the rug can be ripped from right under you at any moment.

The only thing I kind of disliked about the film was the ending. It's very abrupt and feels like there should've been more to get closure as the audience. But it also sort of works because, much like life, and much like those living a lie like the lead in this film, there are no happy endings.

Highly recommend checking this out. Kacey Rohl is a complete revelation. This is such a tense, effective, thrilling, twisty, and unsettling film.