A mousy teenager with curly hair and a face full of acne, Minnie is the farthest thing from cool — even if the actress who plays her, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, has charisma to spare. Minnie is practically invisible to most of the students at North Little Rock High School, which is what makes her friendship with Callie — the most popular girl in her class — so special. They’ve been close since before such things mattered, and Callie’s the sort of person who always made sure that Minnie was included.
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But Callie tragically dies in a car crash, and the film asks, what does life without her best friend look like? And how does one balance that loss with what everyone else is feeling, from Callie’s shellshocked mother (Sophie Okonedo, giving the first Oscar-worthy performance of 2026) to those classmates who claim Callie as their own? The latest modestly scaled, sensitively crafted drama from directors Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan, “Mouse” is a movie without a clever marketing hook, but it’s intelligent, perceptive and true. As in their two previous heartfelt Middle American indies, “Saint Frances” and “Ghostlight,” the couple draw from their own lives and the world around them…