From startling start to ambiguous ending, you’ll be leaning into the screen to try to figure out more, says Chris Knight
By Chris Knight
This great Canadian movie could also have been called The Complete and Utter Exhaustion of Lying. McMaster University student Katie Arneson (Kacey Rohl) is faking a cancer diagnosis – that plot point is never in doubt – but my oh my does she ever look tired trying to keep up the ruse
She’s haggard and pale, run off her feet, maybe even sick. You almost feel for her until you remember – wait, she’s faking a cancer diagnosis! She’s the villain! Boo!
White Lie’s co-writers and directors Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas last made the 2018 low-budget comedy-drama Spice It Up, about a film student struggling to finish her thesis. This one is a lot more polished, and the filmmakers have made some sharp, smart choices that add to the tension and enjoyment you’ll feel.
For one thing, they leave deliberately vague just why Katie is embroiled in this weird subterfuge that seems to eat up all her time and money. Is she seeking attention or fame, or maybe trying to spin her “disease” into wealth? There are some hints near the end, but it’s part of the mystery that will have you leaning into the screen to try to figure out more about this mysterious figure.
The very first scene shows her carefully shaving her head
There’s also the fact that Katie isn’t overly unlikeable as a character. She’s engaging and quick to smile, although that trait raises some uncomfortable thoughts about the requirement for even sick people to look good on social media these days.
Then there are the people she’s trying to fool. Her dad (Martin Donovan) is clearly on to her, even telling her: “I want to know if you’re in some kind of trouble like you were before.” Her partner, Jennifer (Amber Anderson), is supportive to a fault, taken in to the point of being gaslit.
But it’s the strangers – a university official in charge of a bursary, a school friend, various receptionists and secretaries – who are most fascinating to watch in their reactions. Clearly the directors have told them to look at her not with exaggerated friendliness, but not exactly with hostility and suspicion either.
Katie (and by extension the viewer) keeps searching their faces for a sign they’re not fooled. And every time it could go either way, people just shrug and say OK. Ramping up the tension is Lev Lewis’ score, which incorporates electronic sounds and bounces between notes of melodrama and horror.
The drama is perfectly paced. Early on, Katie persuades a doctor (Thomas Olajide) to provide fake documentation for her illness, and their resulting conversation is a bizarre mix of the real and the invented. After giving her actual name and birthdate, she’ll say “I tell people …” and then “I’ve been going to chemo for three months.” Which, again, just to be clear, she hasn’t. The very first scene shows her carefully shaving her head.
And the very last scene? I’m a sucker for a carefully executed ambiguous conclusion, and White Lie doesn’t disappoint. Rather than ending with a sudden reversal or a cymbal crash, it leaves us wondering just where its main character will go next. The film runs 96 minutes, but set aside some time for post-screening conversation with whomever’s in your bubble.
White Lie is available on demand on July 21.
4 stars out of 5