Mouse

by Mike McGranaghan

If you’ve ever lost someone you were extremely close to, Mouse will punch you hard in the feels. The latest effort from the filmmaking team of Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan (Ghostlight) deals with extreme grief and the different ways people deal with it. By no means is it a depressing picture, but it is authentic and true, and that gives the story great power.

Minnie Dunn (Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret’s Katherine Mallen Kupferer) is a shy, insecure girl whose best friend Callie Bell (Chloe Coleman) is the complete opposite. They have a long-standing, unbreakable bond, despite their differing personalities. When Callie suddenly dies, Minnie finds herself becoming close to her late friend’s sophisticated mother, Helen (Sophie Okonedo). She takes on the role of surrogate daughter, to the chagrin of her own, far less sophisticated mother, Barbara (Tara Mallen). This period of mourning also sees Minnie develop a sweet romance with video store worker Kat (Iman Vellani).

Mouse is essentially Minnie’s story, but Helen is a big part of it. Both characters find themselves with a massive void in their lives. Without a best friend, Minnie has nobody to confide in. Hanging out with Helen allows her to adopt parts of Callie’s personality. She can feel valued, less financially restrained, and more able to let her light shine a little bit. Part of her arc involves wanting to participate in the senior cabaret concert, singing the song that Callie was going to perform, with the support of the school drama teacher (David Hyde Pierce). That plays out in a very interesting fashion that speaks to an unmistakable longing to feel connection to a loved one who has passed.

Among other things, the story addresses the competitiveness that can accompany grief; Minnie deals with other girls in the group trying to outdo one another in terms of who can honor Callie’s memory more. There are other angles brought into play, too. The movie recognizes that grief is a complicated, messy thing that brings with it conflicting emotions, and that no two people go through it identically. How grief affects us is directly proportional to the type of relationship we had with the deceased, because the space left by their passing is unique to each person.

Kupferer gives a nice, unforced performance as Minnie. She plays the character as going into a state of shock, with the turbulent feelings inside unable to work themselves out in a healthy manner. Your heart breaks for the girl, thanks to the sincere work from the young actress playing her. Okonedo is excellent, too. There’s a scene where Helen steps out of a car looking completely broken. How Okonedo accomplished that, I do not know, but, like many of her scenes, it gives you a lump in your throat. The stars create a touching portrait of two people trying to make sense of life again, together.

Mouse is a slice-of-life film. Watching it is like becoming invisible and peeping into somebody else’s world. Funny at times, sad at others, Thompson and O’Sullivan have given their story the quality of genuineness. When it’s over, you’ll want to give a great big hug to a person you love.