Millie Lies Low Review

Faced with a panic attack and missing their flight, the fundamentals of Millie Lies Low, in passing, look rather strange. It is not until Michelle Savill has had the time to create the area that surrounds the titular character, played by Ana Scotney, that Mille Lies Low begins to enter into a relatively everyday blunder that everyone can fall for. Panic can strike at any time, and the reactions to that can vary from understanding to insulting, but it is the aftermath of panic that Millie Lies Low hopes to detail. Just a few brief moments and that is life out of place. A sudden act in emergency situations reveals a potentially doomed future. To be fair, when plane ticket prices are like that, it is no wonder Millie Lies Low opens with a panic attack.

How far an individual goes in holding that together is not entirely up to the individual. Millie Lies Low takes on a similar form to Not Okay, but does so with less intention of capturing horrific public moments and more on the fear of disappointing others. The unfortunate part of that is Millie Lies Low leans into that too quickly. It is almost immediate that the choice to lie is made, to cheat and barter through a shadowy form of social media presence. There is more time given to considering telling the truth to a presumed loved one than there is to the fatal decision to lie about location, and as such, career. One has more implications than the other, and the lack of panic or fundamental morals shown in these moments, is a shame.

Millie Lies Low would be far more stressful if it were not fundamentally based on a poor decision made in clarity. Obviously the moments that show the simple lie devolving later on do much of the heavy lifting. But is it a simple lie? Millie Lies Low brushes over a very human interaction, a panic attack, and does little to show that it justifies the behaviour, interactions and characteristics found later on. A shame too, since Scotney’s performance is very strong, running back and forth across a town with all sorts of highs and lows to contend with. It is that mania that needs to feel deserved though, yet Savill, along with writing partner Eli Kent, does not quite mark it. Still, it is about the adventure made in the face of the one lost, although Millie Lies Low finds itself losing a lot along the way.

What it does retain is a sense of community, a sense of reliance on others in times of great distress. Scotney represents the fear, the resilience and the futility of pursuing a lie that is bound to grow bigger. It stems from an unreasonable place, one that cannot quite be enjoyed thoroughly, but it does give way to good performances, interesting ideas and a perspective of dealing with the actions of the seemingly understood past. Millie Lies Low ends up detailing a far darker consequence of said actions, and there is nothing in the middle to suggest that either compassion or complete breakdown is all that is warranted. Millie is only human, after all, even if she takes no trouble in lying about being high in the sky.