Directed and Written by: Yoah Lewis, Calvin Thomas
Produced by: Yonah Lewis, Calvin Thomas, Katie Nolan, Karen Harnisch, Lindsay Tapscott
Starring: Kacey Rohl, Amber Anderson, Martin Donovan and Connor Jessup.
TIFF-nominated
White lie is the story of a girl who fakes having cancer. A story that sounds familiar, the unfortunate truth the basis of the film – see article: directors (Yoah Lewis, Calvin Thomas) on the real scams behind their film here.
I was bracing myself, wondering if I could be in the mood to watch, White Lies, but from the opening scene of Katherine (Kacey Rohl) with a ‘K’, shaving her head, I was absorbed.
Immediately we know something’s not right.
She’s on posters, she’s on the cover of a magazine, she’s the lead of a dance group.
People give her money.
People watch her and smile.
She’s the centre of attention.
Everything is going fine for Katherine, until she needs to produce her medical records.
I could not look away from the amazing performance of Kacey Rohl as the character Katherine lies to cover lies, to cover herself and see just how far this girl will go to keep her secret.
Does her girlfriend (Amber Anderson) know? I wonder as pillow talk turns to articles and donations.
Does her father (Martin Donovan) know?
How far can she take it?
That’s what kept me watching. Waiting to see the unravelling. Wondering what would drive someone to lie about having cancer. Wondering if that’s all it takes to fool people: a young, sad girl holding her nerve, allowing people to see what they want to see.
Not able to believe someone could lie but the suspicion once raised a trauma of seeing and not seeing.
Another story for the media. Another Facebook Page. Another sad story to believe and charity to donate to.
But rather than get bogged down in the sensationalism, the film directs a clinical eye to record the misdeeds of lie and cover-up, the seamless unfeeling fantasy underlined with the warped scratch of strings, the soundtrack the indication of a broken mind because watching Katherine, she seems fine.
But she’s not OK because she will never see the wrong in what she’s doing.
It’s like the audience is allowed a window to see the truth while those around her are thoroughly fooled. So instead of an unsettling fear like I expected, the film became a fascination.
Instead of another warning about social media, White Lie is an absorbing psychological thriller. A film simply told so the complication of an unsound mind becomes a watch that’s both subtle and revealing.