Mouse Showcase © Nate Hurtsellers and Luke Dyra
Tickets
On sale viff.org
About
Canadian Premiere
Arkansas, 2002. Unmoored by the loss of her charismatic best friend Callie (Chloe Coleman) in the summer before her senior year, Minnie (Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Ghostlight), a bashful working-class teenager, forms a complicated bond with her friend’s sophisticated mother Helen (Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda), a former classical pianist. Hungry for connection, Helen offers to train Minnie to perform in Callie’s honour at her school’s cabaret. But the shadow of the girl who defined both their lives looms between them. Who are they without her?
This intimate and beautifully grounded drama from co-directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson (Saint Frances, VIFF 2020) features Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel) as Minnie’s empathetic crush, and a dryly witty turn from David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) as her perceptive drama teacher. A dreamy score from Hamilton Leithauser evokes the last breaths of summer, while Nate Hurtsellers’ cinematography poignantly magnifies our heroines’ emotional transformations as they wade through the unpredictable ebbs and flows of grief.
An ultra-naturalistic movie warmed by the summer sun.
David Rooney, Variety
Arkansas, 2002. Unmoored by the loss of her charismatic best friend Callie (Chloe Coleman) in the summer before her senior year, Minnie (Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Ghostlight), a bashful working-class teenager, forms a complicated bond with her friend’s sophisticated mother Helen (Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda), a former classical pianist. Hungry for connection, Helen offers to train Minnie to perform in Callie’s honour at her school’s cabaret. But the shadow of the girl who defined both their lives looms between them. Who are they without her?
This intimate and beautifully grounded drama from co-directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson (Saint Frances, VIFF 2020) features Iman Vellani (Ms. Marvel) as Minnie’s empathetic crush, and a dryly witty turn from David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) as her perceptive drama teacher. A dreamy score from Hamilton Leithauser evokes the last breaths of summer, while Nate Hurtsellers’ cinematography poignantly magnifies our heroines’ emotional transformations as they wade through the unpredictable ebbs and flows of grief.
An ultra-naturalistic movie warmed by the summer sun.
David Rooney, Variety
