MOUSE
(directors: Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson; screenwriter: Kelly O’Sullivan; cinematographers: Nate Hurtsellers, Luke Dyra; editor: Michael S. Smith; music: Hamilton Leithauser; cast: Sophie
Okonedo (Helen Bell), Katherine Mallen Kupferer (Minnie Dunn), Chloe Coleman (Callie Bell), Tara Mallen (Barbara Dunn), Iman Vellani (Kat),
David Hyde Pierce (Mr. Murdaugh, drama teacher), Audrey Grace Marshall (Cara), Addisyn Cain (Brandi), Beck Nolan (Brad), Christopher R. Ellis
(Mark Bell); Runtime: 121; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Chelsea Krant, Alex Thompson, Pierce Cravens, Abigail Rose Solomon, Alex Wilson, Bonnie Comley, Ian Keiser, Steven A. Jones, Stewart F. Lane; Metropolitan; 2026)
“Beautifully written, directed and acted.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Co-directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson (“Ghostlight”/ “Saint Frances”), a real-life couple, collaborate again on this brilliant coming-of-age friendship indie drama set in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The screenplay is written by Kelly O’Sullivan, based on her own experiences.
Minnie (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) is a timid teen-age girl raised in the suburbs of Little Rock who has the unflattering nickname of Mouse because she’s looks so unappealing. In June 2002, the last day of school for the junior and for her attractive popular best friend Callie (Chloe Coleman), a senior. The girls are happy and are loudly playing on Callie’s car radio Michelle Branch’s pop hit “All You Wanted.” The lyrics go like this “If you want to, I can save you. I can take you away from here.”
Minnie is a good math student, who lives with her struggling single mom Barbara (Tara Mallen, the real-life mother of Katherine Mallen Kupferer), a veterinary assistant with a big heart who brings home rescued animals. While the restless Callie comes from an affluent and cultured family, and lives in a mansion with her sophisticated parents. She’s popular, talented, the queen of the drama club and dates a handsome guy (Beck Nolan) that makes the other girls in school envious. Her influential mother Helen (Sophie Okonedo) speaks with a polished Brit accent, helps guide her career and to get her into the prestigious Juilliard. Helen also has time to help the needy Minnie.
During that summer Minnie’s life is shattered when Callie dies in a car accident.
What unfolds, however, saves Mouse’s life, as she’s befriended by the grieving Helen and is considerably helped by her. Mouse loosens up and begins a tender romance with the receptive video store clerk, Kat (Iman Vellani), and blossoms when no longer in the shadow of her first love even though she’s no longer accepted by Callie’s phony in-crowd.
The lyrical film is authentic, beautifully written, directed and acted. Its intelligence and sensitivity make it one of the best LGBTQ+ films I’ve seen in a long time.
It played at the Berlin Film Festival.
REVIEWED ON 2/17/2026 GRADE: A
dennisschwartzreviews.com