The loss of a loved one impacts all of us differently. The gaping hole left by someone who played an outsized role in our lives, it can be filled with any number of emotions, by a new vice, by a new passion, by new people. The whirlwind of feelings that come with adolescence only makes this an even more confusing time, but one with the potential for growth. Mouse, another quiet gem from filmmakers Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, and set in the world of local theater like their 2024 film Ghostlight, navigates this coming-of-age story with the warmth and humanity that has become a staple of their work.
Set in 2002, Mouse reunites O’Sullivan and Thompson with Ghostlight actress Katherine Mallen Kupferer. She plays high school senior, Minnie, and like the Disney character she’s a bit mousey and shy in public. Certainly, she pales in comparison to her popular, outgoing BFF, Callie, played by Chloe Coleman. Both are theater kids, but Callie has a real future as an actress if she wants to be. The two couldn’t be more different, and it stretches to their home lives. Minnie comes from a working-class background, eating TV dinners provided by her uncool single mom Barbara (Tara Mallen, Katherine’s real-life mother), who has a penchant for adopting both kids and stray animals. Meanwhile, Callie lives in a big house with her sophisticated English mom, Helen, played by Sophie Okonedo, and gregarious father, played by Christopher R. Ellis.
Minnie and Callie do everything together. Hey, it’s the early 2000s, and the sounds of Michelle Branch’s “All You Wanted” ring loud as they sing at the top of their lungs in the car. They’re so wrapped up in it that it’s scary how oblivious they are to the rest of the world. The end of junior year has arrived, and senior year is looking like it will be like all of the others that came before. Callie will get all of the attention, followed by a potential jump to Juilliard to continue acting. Minnie, well, she’s good at directing Callie from behind the camera, then fading into the background quietly.
The setup for Mouse suggests a familiar high school drama where two best friends, headed in opposite directions socially, split and become bitter enemies. That’s not this movie. There is a split that happens, but it’s a tragic one, and suddenly Minnie is left on her own to pick up the pieces. She relied so much on her friendship with Callie. It was basically the one stable thing in her life, and now it’s gone. So that void has to be filled with something. Or, in this case, someone: Callie’s mother, Helen, who is also looking for a way to cope with the grief she’s feeling.
The majority of Mouse is exploring the ups and downs of Minnie and Helen’s grief-stricken relationship. O’Sullivan and Thompson are aware that no two people handle despair in the same way, and it can be a roller coaster. Minnie finds that she and Helen have a lot more in common than just a shared love for Callie, although that is definitely their anchor. They bond over being misfits in this town, of uncertain futures, and a desperate need for healing. Minnie still has a lot to learn about the world and her own sexuality. The presence of Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani as Kat, an exuberant record store employee and potential love interest, is a light-hearted breath of fresh air. Helen is grappling with a marriage on the rocks, and a dream of being a concert pianist that is going up in smoke.
It’s not all popsicles and lollipops for Minnie and Helen’s friendship, though. The age difference, worldliness, life experience, and the different speeds at which they handle the tragedy all cause their share of turbulence. Mouse is ultimately about healing, with O’Sullivan and Thompson keenly aware that it comes in all forms and from many difference sources. Even if the film is a little too gentle for its own good in the final stretch, tying up a tangle of issues with kid gloves to deliver a happy ending, it’s also refreshingly honest and heartening in a way the genre often gets wrong. This little Mouse might be small, but the emotional impact positively roars.
IFC releases Mouse in select theaters on November 6th, nationwide on November 13th.
