In Michael Licisyn’s short film Millie’s Care Free Day, Millie (Kathryn Miller) is trapped in an endless cycle, waking each day to the same lifeless routine. She starts her mornings early, lying in bed as the clock nears 6 a.m., ignoring calls from her friend Leah and preparing for another day. Her days pass with little change; she returns to bed each night.
One morning, a small incident breaks the pattern—Millie drops her keys. For the first time in a while, she notices her surroundings, tunes into her playlist and the song, This Time, and heads out on a walk by the lake. As music fills her ears, she feels a fleeting sense of joy, dancing and enjoying the beauty around her.
“…trapped in an endless cycle, waking each day to the same lifeless routine.”
During this unexpected stroll, Millie crosses paths with Leah (Rachel Keefe), whom she has been ghosting. Yet, Leah seems different somehow.
The fun of Millie’s Care Free Day is how it lulls you into a beautiful feeling of hope before it slaps you with reality. Sometimes, we find ourselves living through the same events day after day, and the moment we try to break it, our past comes around to set us back into the cycle of the mundane. Yet, the only way to break that is to confront our past.
With cinematic precision, Michael Licisyn’s Millie’s Care Free Day brings a touching message about resilience in the face of routine. Kathryn Miller’s portrayal of Millie is both poignant and relatable, reminding us that sometimes, breaking free means facing parts of ourselves we’d rather leave behind.
"…only way to break free... is to confront our past."
