Emily Lape is compelling to watch, as she struggles with her mother, her sexuality and job issues. I wanted to turn it off, but my interest in the main character was too compelling. Another Netflix film worth your while.
8 Reviews
Movies with SA need a warning
carinnalowther2 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
For a low budget film it was pretty good. The acting was good for the kost part, especially the lead. The story though not original was good. It was pretty depressing but watching someone make this hard journey was thought provoking. The main character is in a bad emotional place and totally closed off and goes through the hard transition of opening up and it is painful. The character doesn't end up in a good place, but there seems to be potential.
The thing that bothered me most was the main character is sexually assaulted and it's not really talked about. It's realistic, but I would have liked to see the experience labeled outright as assault. I think many people go through a similar experience and blame themselves because they don't have the right framework to understand what has happened. I think the more media acknowledges this type of thing, the more people will be able to understand what has happened and be able to process it.
The thing that bothered me most was the main character is sexually assaulted and it's not really talked about. It's realistic, but I would have liked to see the experience labeled outright as assault. I think many people go through a similar experience and blame themselves because they don't have the right framework to understand what has happened. I think the more media acknowledges this type of thing, the more people will be able to understand what has happened and be able to process it.
A missed opportunity
shieldfire8 June 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The mother is an awful human being. Thank someone she on screen for a pretty short time - unfortunately she manages to do too much damage during this short time than Mercy would like.
Mercy is as, the blurbs say, a closeted lesbian - who finds someone to love. She is also a recovering addict, struggling with staying recovering and making ends meet. This later part isn't going all that well. But her love interest makes things much better, life enjoyable even - until her mother meets with her at a cafe and her entire world crumbles due to the mother bigoted Christian beliefs.
There is a lot of room for improvement in this movie. For one, it is very slow and "artsy" to be point of being artsy. To me it seems the director wants to tell a story about "coming out" have family support (or as in this case not). About finding yourself. But it all drowns in melodrama. It also touches upon sexual assault issue, but it also doesn't because of ... drama? Mercy coming home battered after been missing all night, and only says "I had sex with a guy." as the explanation for being messed up should be obvious that that wasn't the entire explanation to what happened. For some reason her girlfriend, Jesse, doesn't even try to probe. Which would have revealed the horrible mother, the assault, and stopped Mercy's and Jesse's relationship from crashing. This is the main two main missed opportunities in this film. Maybe to end result would have been much better if they had dared take it there.
Still, it's not all bad - it could just have been done better.
Mercy is as, the blurbs say, a closeted lesbian - who finds someone to love. She is also a recovering addict, struggling with staying recovering and making ends meet. This later part isn't going all that well. But her love interest makes things much better, life enjoyable even - until her mother meets with her at a cafe and her entire world crumbles due to the mother bigoted Christian beliefs.
There is a lot of room for improvement in this movie. For one, it is very slow and "artsy" to be point of being artsy. To me it seems the director wants to tell a story about "coming out" have family support (or as in this case not). About finding yourself. But it all drowns in melodrama. It also touches upon sexual assault issue, but it also doesn't because of ... drama? Mercy coming home battered after been missing all night, and only says "I had sex with a guy." as the explanation for being messed up should be obvious that that wasn't the entire explanation to what happened. For some reason her girlfriend, Jesse, doesn't even try to probe. Which would have revealed the horrible mother, the assault, and stopped Mercy's and Jesse's relationship from crashing. This is the main two main missed opportunities in this film. Maybe to end result would have been much better if they had dared take it there.
Still, it's not all bad - it could just have been done better.
Both impressive and disappointing
alisonnic23 July 2023
I liked this movie, but I felt it was rather slow-moving, and I was disappointed that it didn't deal more with certain issues, particularly the sexual assault by the man in the bar. I think the movie - and the main characters, and their relationship - would have benefited from a discussion between them about this.
On the other hand, considering both the budget and the multitude of roles which Emily Lape undertook in the making of this movie, I think it's a very impressive achievement. The cinematography is excellent, and overall the content of the film is engaging and moving. I'm looking forward to seeing future works by Ms. Lape.
On the other hand, considering both the budget and the multitude of roles which Emily Lape undertook in the making of this movie, I think it's a very impressive achievement. The cinematography is excellent, and overall the content of the film is engaging and moving. I'm looking forward to seeing future works by Ms. Lape.
Skip this movie
befbenjerman19 July 2022
This film made me want to press charges against Emily Lape
johnanthonymazzei16 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This movie should be used in film schools as a negative case study. I couldn't find any redeeming qualities in it. It stretches' the 10 minute art film short out to 123 minutes. The over-used person with a 10,000 yard stare who silently smokes a cigarette until the screen fades to black and the French language word FIN appears sums up this picture. A 2 minute establishing shot gives us a girl walking. By 18 minutes we learn she is in a support group. The dialogue between the lead actresses wouldn't pass muster in freshman level college composition course. The topper is that the writer / director / star managed to make an explicit lesbian sex scene boring.
Fell Asleep Watching This...
nammage4 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This is the story: Mercy is a semi-closeted lesbian (some people know she's gay, some people don't; i.e semi-closeted), and an alcoholic who says she's sober when she's actually not. But she's not the usual fair of what most are seen as being an alcoholic. I was an alcoholic (or am one since it's a lifetime thing, I guess) and I drank all the time for years, and I only drank bourbon. Mercy seems like a casual drinker to me. She also drinks bourbon and sometimes light beer. She doesn't drink all the time; there's a scene where someone offers her a drink and she says 'no'. An alcoholic who actually is sober would say 'no' but an alcoholic who still drinks, would not. There's no will-power when you're already drinking, only when you're not. Therefore, Mercy is a casual drinker not an alcoholic.
Mercy asks out this girl named Jesse, who is open and out. They have a relationship; the first serious relationship for Mercy. Mercy's mother is religious and she doesn't know Mercy is gay, yet. Mercy, in the beginning actually comes off as confident. She does live alone with cats but she initiates everything with Jesse from the beginning except the first time they have sex but then Mercy takes control there. When Mercy does come out to her mother, her mother does say horrible things but I didn't believe any of it. It was too calm of a conversation. The way the mother spoke was calm and collect and while the speech was crass, I didn't believe it. Then afterward Mercy drinks and hooks up with a guy in a bathroom who she pushes and hits, who hits back and then rapes her. Truthfully I think that scene was added drama to form some coherency from the laxkluster of the previous scene. Then the breakup and were back to the beginning of the film of slow moving, going nowhere until the end of the film and then it ends.
This film is slow. Really slow. I fell asleep the 30 minutes in. There's no music of any kind in the film. No songs, no composition; nothing to accentuate the mood of certain or any scenes whatsoever. There's not really much dialogue. I mean, there are scenes between Mercy and Jesse that has plenty of dialogue but mainly it's just quiet conversations throughout the film; there's a lot of over-talk (people talking to each other all at once) and discerning what they're saying can be difficult, at times. But overall, it's really quiet and somber and the plot (drama) really doesn't kick in until 72 minutes in. You literally can skip the first 70 minutes and still know everything that goes on. In the first 70 minutes you can leave and come back 10 minutes later and you wouldn't have missed anything.
The acting isn't bad by most. The cinematography is pretty good. Sound quality is good (even with nothing really being said), the writing is subpar, and the direction is adequate. Overall, it's okay but there could have been more character development and the plot should have encompassed the whole rather than the last 50 minutes.
Mercy asks out this girl named Jesse, who is open and out. They have a relationship; the first serious relationship for Mercy. Mercy's mother is religious and she doesn't know Mercy is gay, yet. Mercy, in the beginning actually comes off as confident. She does live alone with cats but she initiates everything with Jesse from the beginning except the first time they have sex but then Mercy takes control there. When Mercy does come out to her mother, her mother does say horrible things but I didn't believe any of it. It was too calm of a conversation. The way the mother spoke was calm and collect and while the speech was crass, I didn't believe it. Then afterward Mercy drinks and hooks up with a guy in a bathroom who she pushes and hits, who hits back and then rapes her. Truthfully I think that scene was added drama to form some coherency from the laxkluster of the previous scene. Then the breakup and were back to the beginning of the film of slow moving, going nowhere until the end of the film and then it ends.
This film is slow. Really slow. I fell asleep the 30 minutes in. There's no music of any kind in the film. No songs, no composition; nothing to accentuate the mood of certain or any scenes whatsoever. There's not really much dialogue. I mean, there are scenes between Mercy and Jesse that has plenty of dialogue but mainly it's just quiet conversations throughout the film; there's a lot of over-talk (people talking to each other all at once) and discerning what they're saying can be difficult, at times. But overall, it's really quiet and somber and the plot (drama) really doesn't kick in until 72 minutes in. You literally can skip the first 70 minutes and still know everything that goes on. In the first 70 minutes you can leave and come back 10 minutes later and you wouldn't have missed anything.
The acting isn't bad by most. The cinematography is pretty good. Sound quality is good (even with nothing really being said), the writing is subpar, and the direction is adequate. Overall, it's okay but there could have been more character development and the plot should have encompassed the whole rather than the last 50 minutes.
With a much less budget try Alexandra Swarens, his works are far better
fabiofrost19 February 2024
This kind of feature film falls within the category of films that make me hate screenwriters directors and interpreters, it is totally disgust and useless that I hope they no longer do other works of the genre, even if I know that other works so horrible will still be done unfortunately, then what what It makes me angry even more and that the most disgust they always keep it last so you have to see it by force, you have to see this kind of senseless sudden sort, they seem almost self -harm, I absolutely do not recommend this feature film at least you don't want to see a meaningless work!!!!!!!
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