Ticketworthy! - My Dead Friend Zoe

Much like its main character, Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green), My Dead Friend Zoe isn’t terribly quick to open up and let you in. The film gives you pieces of the puzzle bit by bit, letting its walls down as Merit does the same. What’s behind those walls is an emotional cocktail of anger, pain, grief, and redemption that is so raw that it’s hard not to be drawn in.

Merit is an Army vet that was deployed to Afghanistan along with her best friend, Zoe (Natalie Morales), who is now dead, thus the title of the movie. Merit is clearly having a hard time adjusting to life after the military and after Zoe, who quite literally haunts her as she tries to settle into her life and care for her aging grandfather. We get to see their time together in the Army only in snippets, as the movie takes its time revealing the horrible truth about Zoe’s death and why it had such a crippling impact on Merit.

The chemistry between the two women is by far the best part of the movie, with both Martin-Green and Morales delivering stunning performances. Zoe’s devil-may-care, sardonic attitude and barely suppressed rage play well off of Merit’s stoic uncertainty and pain. I would not be shocked to see either actress get consideration for some awards. Martin-Green in particular practically reaches out of the screen and drags you on her emotional journey. She is absolutely fantastic.

Equally great, though in a smaller role, is Ed Harris as Merit’s grandfather, Dale. There’s a palpable frustration hovering around Dale, who is also an Army vet, in every scene. He’s a strong man that has lost his wife and is slowly losing his autonomy as he battles with Alzheimer’s. Though he sometimes takes that frustration out on Merit, Harris still delivers a sympathetic performance that makes you just want to give Dale a hug, even though he almost certainly would push you away.

What impressed me the most, aside from the stellar performances, was just how real the whole thing felt. After a while, it’s easy to forget you’re watching a movie and not just the lives of these people. The movie is co-written and directed by Kyle Hausmann-Stokes, who is himself an Army vet and it shows. There’s an understanding about these characters’ situation that could only have come from living it, and it shines through in both the writing and directing.

There are, however, flaws. The movie pretty clearly wants to have some comedic elements to balance the drama, but for the most part they don’t quite work. There are a few quirky, humanizing moments, but other than those I can’t think of anything that made me so much as chuckle. It also starts slow. The idea seems to be to pick up the pace as Merit starts to open up and come to terms with what happened, and that’s fine, but it means that the beginning of the film drags pretty noticeably. I wouldn’t be shocked if some people give up on this one before it really gets going, even though I think that would be a mistake. Additionally, and this is a small complaint, Morgan Freeman is in this movie and does basically nothing. Again, that’s not a huge complaint, but if you’ve got Morgan Freeman, probably you should do something with him.

Even with those issues, My Dead Friend Zoe is a movie I definitely recommend. The things that work are so interesting and compelling, and the performances are so good, that it would be a shame to miss this one.