Directed & Written by: Yonah Lewis, Calvin Thomas.
Starring: Kacey Rohl, Amber Anderson, Martin Donovan, Thomas Olajide, Connor Jessup.
White Lie is about a young woman, named Katie Arneson (Kacey Rohl), claiming to have cancer. This lie is what the main focus of this film is all about. The film follows Katie as her “white lie” intensifies after her father, Doug Arneson (Martin Donovan) doubts her diagnosis and questions her as to whether she is lying or telling the truth. After Katie stutters and then questioned him as to why he would think she’s lying, Doug realises the truth and exposes her lies on a social media post which causes the fundraising to be thrown into jeopardy.
After this happens, Katie explores additional lengths to ensure her lies are kept a secret, meaning innocent people become involved to help her keep the lies buried, this includes Pharmacy Laboratory Assistant named Owen (Connor Jessup) and a doctor who is in desperate financial need, named Jabari Jordan (Thomas Olajide), who helps to keep her lies a secret, for payouts to keep their silence.
As the film plays on, the lies become deeper, and Katie seems to be struggling to keep control of the lies, which seem to slowly be unravelling which leads to her girlfriend, Jennifer Ellis (Amber Anderson) beginning to doubt whether the diagnosis is genuine.
From the very first scene of this film we see Katie shaving her hair off to portray the narrative which she has now created for herself, and whilst most narratives have a beginning, a middle, and an ending, this particular story left me struggling to understand the seemingly complicated personality of Katie and exactly why she has decided to do what she has, what brought her to decide this would be something she would be able to get away with, with no insight of a backstory or flashbacks, to help viewers to understand the character and her need for money and attention, as this is the main focus of the film, the money from the lies she’s telling, and the attention she is receiving from loved ones and strangers.
In conclusion, this is a good film, which is directed well. I felt the writing of the main character, Katie, could have been written better as I didn’t like her character very much, I felt she just didn’t care for what she was doing, which I can understand was most likely the aim of the writers and producers, but it showed awareness that trust is becoming more and more difficult to retain, especially with illnesses both visible and non-visible. However, a great film overall, it was insightful but also rather petrifying to realise there are people out there capable of such awful behaviours as this, so a big well done to Yonah Lewis, Calvin Thomas for making a film on such a sensitive illness, and showing awareness of how easy and manipulative people can be in the world with no remorse or care for their actions.
Be sure to check out the trailer below, and watch the film when it becomes available by Rock Salt Releasing, on various different streaming networks; Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, DirecTV, InDemand, FlixFling, Vimeo On Demand, Vudu, and Fandangofrom 5th January 2021, and available to pre-order from 20th December 2020.
I give this film a 4 star rating!
Room For A Review 