As heavy as it sounds, there’s a quiet intensity in the frames, which are teeming with raw Midwestern ordinary-ness on full display.

| Aug 26, 2023

You do care about the couple, but you can't help but spend the movie shaking your head about how alien the US penal system is. But the film does little to either pluck at your heart-strings or ignite your outrage.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 1, 2021

This means that the death penalty parts are actually much better than the rom-com ones, and the disparity leads to some tonally awkward mid-scene transitions between the two.

| Jul 1, 2020

A kind romance with a stellar turn by Ellen Page

| Jul 11, 2019

Heady problems put the characters in My Days of Mercy through the wringer, but the clarity with which they are captured makes the difficult journey more poignant.

| Jul 9, 2019

Mixing a death-penalty melodrama and a lesbian romance isn't as awkward as it might seem, thanks mostly to two committed performances and an avoidance of heavy-handed contrivances.

| Jul 5, 2019

A well-meaning but increasingly contrived melodrama that is hardly believable or meaningful.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 5, 2019

...My Days of Mercy clears its biggest hurdle of navigating a lesbian romance and capital punishment.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jul 5, 2019

Mostly about watching Page and Mara manage dramatics, trying to make potentially one-dimensional characters into living, breathing human beings. They're successful, even when the movie isn't.

| Original Score: B | Jul 4, 2019

Beautifully incisive performances by Ellen Page and Kate Mara create a prism through which to examine how the death penalty impacts those far beyond death row. Hardly subtle, and yet still delicate.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 23, 2019

Ellen Page, a decade on from her star-making turn in Juno, thrives in a demanding dramatic role as the middle one of three working-class siblings who travel to executions across the US in order to protest against judicial killing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 17, 2019

The effervescent chemistry between the two leads [saves] it from Sundance-y overearnestness.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 15, 2019

Contrived yet interesting and undeniably erotic, it's a queer story in both senses.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 15, 2019

Despite having a hugely contentious issue at the heart of its plot, this film remains remarkably centred on its characters, all of whom are played with an earthy authenticity that often feels improvised.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 29, 2019

A triumphant female-led film, Mercy soars on the weight of its triptych of great performances, but isn't ballsy enough with its provocative premise.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 26, 2019

Despite the peculiarity of mixing and issue-oriented political film with an LGBT coming-of-age story, it is ultimately a very powerful, emotional, and universal story.

| Sep 27, 2017

A horror movie and a love story in its own right, My Days of Mercy is a new take on an old but pressing issue, rooted more in deeply emotions than philosophical arguments.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Sep 27, 2017

Joe Barton's script, especially the dialogue between the two lovers about capital punishment, is pointed and very smart, and he knows how to let information trickle out at the right pace.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 13, 2017

The movie doesn't buckle under the weight of its ambitions, and in straining to find the light it ends up engaging and compelling - even if it is overly complex.

| Original Score: B- | Sep 12, 2017

Produced as a vehicle for co-starring friends Ellen Page and Kate Mara, "Mercy" serves them both well, with critical support likely to help the film find an audience despite its challenging themes.

| Sep 9, 2017