MOUSE Special Screenings

The third feature from filmmaking duo Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson (GHOSTLIGHT; SAINT FRANCES) is their most affecting and fully realized drama yet. Set in 2002, best friends Minnie (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) and Callie (Chloe Coleman) are on the cusp of their senior year of high school. Self-effacing Minnie comfortably resides in the long shadow of the more charismatic and assertive Callie, but when their bond is suddenly upended, the spotlight is available to Minnie in a way it never has been before. Bereft of her bearings, Minnie latches onto Callie’s poised and accomplished mother, Helen, who presents a stark and dreamy contrast to Minnie’s own working-class, single-parent household. Academy Award® nominee Sophie Okonedo plays Helen with a gravity and well of emotion that speaks volumes in silence — a depth of feeling so finely etched into her being that she communicates it as much with presence as with words, complementing the youthful, raw reactivity Kupferer brings to her role. David Hyde Pierce and Iman Vellani leaven the drama with comedy, finding wisdom in even the film’s lightest moments. Allergic to histrionics, O’Sullivan and Thompson trust the calibrated performances of their cast and allow MOUSE to move with natural rhythms that feel lived in and true, earning its emotional payoffs with sincerity rather than manipulation. –Travis Weedon