Ordinary Days is the tale of the disappearance of college student Cara Cook (played by Jacqueline Byers) told from three different perspectives. The first story is a drama that focuses on her parents Marie and Rich (Tori Higginson and Richard Clarkin) as they try to stave off rising panic when their daughter fails to respond to voicemail and text messages over a weekend. The second story is a police procedural that follows Jonathan Brightbill (Michael Xavier), the detective assigned to find Cara. Brightbill has personal issues (surprise, surprise) that he's attempting to deal with as the pressure of locating the missing girl starts to weigh on him. The final story is a thriller act where we find out what happened to Cara.
Ordinary Days is a largely quiet and restrained film...so much so that the first two segments feel more like something that belongs on TV. Cara's chapter has more of a filmic quality and actually would work as a standalone short film.
The first part with Marie and Rich is a true challenge for any storyteller: how do you keep the audience engaged when you're focusing on people who are just waiting while things are happening elsewhere? The approach in this film is to make it a character piece to try to get the viewer to share the anxiety of the parents, which is somewhat successful. The characters behave believably with the exception of a couple of scenes which seem stagey and you catch the actors acting as opposed to inhabiting their roles.
The second segment feels a lot like a cop show. Like the previous chapter, it tries to focus on character development and get the viewer invested in the life of Brightbill. The detective attempts to work through a difficult relationship while following a possible trail for Cara...in other words, this is your typical police procedural. The conclusion of this segment deviates from the low-key approach of the rest of the film and ventures into territory that fans of cop shows and movies would be familiar with. Ironically, that conclusion actually enables the production to keep costs down, which may have been one reason for the decisions that the filmmakers made.
The final chapter is difficult to discuss without spoiling the film. Suffice to say, it involves some challenges acting wise. As with all good thrillers, the segment does a good job of keeping the viewer guessing as to how things will play out.
Overall, the acting is largely good, although there were parts mentioned above that come off as written and didn't seem natural. Unfortunately, those parts draw attention to the fact that you're watching a movie and might take some viewers (myself included) out of the film. On the plus side, the filmmakers wisely left out details in these interlocking stories and trusted the audience to bridge the gaps themselves without hand-holding by the film.
Fans of small independent films may find this an enjoyable diversion. People who prefer glossy Hollywood films that show something flash every couple of minutes may want to think carefully before taking in this movie.
