Millie Lies Low

I saw Millie Lies Low in Melbourne last week.

Great movie, impressive first feature directing by Michelle Savill to balance the tone so well, and really top notch unaffected acting by the cast. Do recommend!!!

The film weaves a beautiful line of awkward comedic relief and thoughtfully framed reflection on the confusion of being a young adult, and the relationships that come with it. I found the film entertaining throughout, I laughed frequently, and it also gave me pause for thought.

My partner and I chatted frequently over the following days about things the film prompted for us, like the way the lead character and her mum related, or laughing at moments like the scene that the film's climax pivots on.

Loved the Wellington NZ sets - only anyone that has travelled or lived there will be able to understand the aptness of the wind scene!!

This was just all too contrived for me. "Millie" (Ana Scotney) is about to fly from Wellington to a new life in New York when she has a panic attack on the aircraft. Terrified and unable to breathe, she gets off the thing but rather than tell her folks and friends that she had a turn, she proceeds to pretend that she has actually arrived. To that end, she hits social media with chats and photographs whilst all the while hovering around her home neighbourhood without a cent to her name. Desperate, she is swiftly reduced to petty theft and living in a tent before she is recognised by someone and her lies start to spiral into something altogether more ridiculous. Scotney actually does fine here, but the story goes nowhere fast and after the initial quirkiness of the start, this just resembles a script-writers convention where they all got together and created a series of scenarios that could have come straight from a "Tom and Jerry" cartoon - only these are not particularly funny. What I did find interesting was the extent to which characters obsess about living their lives online. Most of her predicaments here are entirely due to "Millie" being incapable of stopping lying and constantly making matters worse by laying a false trail of breadcrumbs. Who cares? She comes across as a fairly selfish and uninteresting woman right from the get-go, and any attempts to get to the bottom of her anxieties are well and truly subsumed in a "badass" sea of mediocre predictability. Maybe it might work better on a big screen with an audience full of beer and good will, but otherwise it's pretty disappointing.

Despite her fear of flying, Millie is smart and resourceful, making her a wonderful modern heroine. As Millie, Ana Scotney is a revelation. She has the most expressive face I have ever seen. The subtlety of her performance is increasingly captivating as are her physical, very human, comic moments. I could watch this young woman all day.

It treads a beautiful line of comedy and thoughtful reflection on being a young adult. I found the film entertaining throughout and I laughed frequently. With the action magnificently and thoughtfully photographed, this is a rare gem.

The wicked scene that the film's climax pivots on is audacious and exquisitely painful to share with Millie. This deft film earns its unique resolution.

Just watched at Berlinale. Had us laughing out loud, cringing, and feeling for Millie. So relateable, they did good to tell a story that makes you feel what thr protagonist feels. Also love that the protagonist didnt wear make up and was just generally an absolute independent badass. I love the feeling we are left with at the end, that we are all a bit flawed but also forgivable.

This is generally a good and funny film, and the viewer sympathizes with Millie wallowing in her self-imposed predicament. On the downside, it often lacked narrative drive, wasting time on scenes that don't go anywhere. The director also missed some opportunities for a Preston Sturges style comedy of social embarrassment. Still, it is definitely worth seeing.