Movie critics who compare movies to determine their worth are lazy, so naturally I’m going to compare two by directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson. Two years ago, they blew me away with Ghostlight, which I said “enters your soul and embraces it. Equally somber and uplifting, it’s such a naturally engaging movie about loss, grief, and recovery it’s almost unrivaled in that regard.” With Mouse, they collaborate to make an equally somber and uplifting drama that is a naturally engaging look at loss, grief, and recovery.
Its biggest issue: it is rivaled by Ghostlight.
Katherine Mallen Kupferer, who was a true scene stealer in a supporting role in Ghostlight, gets center stage here, playing a high school girl who must deal with a tragic death on top of all the other things that teenage girls have to deal with.
It’s no Ghostlight–it’s missing the compelling hook that elevated that one to the stratosphere–but it’s still a superbly acted and well-written drama worthy of attention.
Comparisons aside, Mouse is a beautifully told and personal coming-of-age film mixed with one about overcoming grief. Kupferer gives an immersive if more restrained performance as Minnie, who is struggling to find her way sexually and emotionally following the death of her best friend. Kupferer is great, but she is surrounded by a strong supporting cast including Sophie Okonedo as the deceased’s mother and Tara Mallen as Minnie’s mother (they are also a mother-daughter duo off camera, which helps explain their natural and often biting chemistry).
Buoyed by strong writing and deft directing, O’Sullivan (who also wrote the film) and Thompson prove again that they have a talent for bringing to life believable, grounded stories in nuanced but accessible ways. So many movies like this—and what holds Mouse back is that there is no shortage of coming-of-age dramas like this—fall into “indie genericism,” or essentially a tendency to show things with a certain aesthetic, with a sly wink of quirk, and a tendency to box their characters into stereotypes that aren’t entirely relatable. Mouse, like Ghostlight before it, feels amazingly sincere and utterly relatable, even if you hopefully have never had to deal with the circumstances Minnie faces here.
While it doesn’t one-up Ghostlight (and that would be a tall order to do so), Mouse is a wonderfully made little drama that’s worth checking out. I hope this review felt sufficiently lazy.
Review by Erik Samdahl. Erik is a marketing and technology executive by day, avid movie lover by night. He is a member of the Seattle Film Critics Society.