My Dead Friend Zoe

This movie is absolutely positively not even in the slightest bit a comedy or a dark comedy. It is incredibly sad. And very boring for the first 55 minutes (i fell asleep multiple times, i never do that). That being said, the movie recruits real veterans to play the roles of the veterans in the support group. The movie as a whole shines a light on some incredibly important (and often forgotten/overlooked) topics. I cried for the last 1/3 of the movie. Veteran or not, anyone who suffers from PTSD/SI, or even knows someone who does, will relate to this movie. And if that's not you, you'll still most likely appreciate the significance of the themes in this film. I'd categorize this movie as (in this order): drama, tragedy, war.

Soooo...I went to see this film at AMC's Scream Unseen, which is exclusively for horror flicks. So that was upsetting, this home is absolutely not horror in any way shape or form. Secondly, since it was an early release the director begins the film with telling you about his newest dark comedy. This is assuredly not a dark comedy or even funny at any point. With that out of the way, this is a film about and for veterans and addressing the higher suicide rate of those who have served our country. Of course this is an important topic and I appreciate the directors and writers who made the film. Unfortunately there isn't much here till about 70 minutes into the film. More of a slice of life that happens to have veterans in the film. I would wait to stream this film. Not really worth a romp to the theatre.

Yes it is a movie about veterans but it is not just about that, for me till the first half it was like omg not this same old story again specially I was watching the movie in a film festival but secondly half movie started to reveal more details and it was ooohhh thats different and nice, director made an amazing job you will feel his touches in a lot of things. Big shout out for Natalie Morales amazing acting, I loved every scene she was in. I would have loved if the movie main characters was males just because of the stereotype of men should be strong and control feelings bla bla bla which lead eventually men not revealing there emotions, but director had a fair point of why main characters were women.

With this kind of title and the mix of genres, I knew I would get something unusual. A comedy that is also a drama - not the best match for success. This time it works, even though both big names are on the background (and doing such great jobs to leave the stage for both actresses to shine).

It is a movie about grief, about trauma and about the way to handle both. We get several bites and tastes from the relationships of Merit and Zoe, but we won't know, until the end of the movie, what exactly went wrong and how Zoe ended her life. The reveal will be kind of a surprise and will change the way you think about the movie.

This twist doesn't matter as far as it goes for the core of the film. PTSD handling through several generations and the way people are handling their trauma and the way the state helps them to handle it. Its not an incident that Kyle Hausmann-Stokes chose a grandfather and his granddaughter, that are both military veterans, as the objects of the movie.

Each of them handles different types of trauma; both are repressing it in different ways and both and both have different sets of tools to deal with the reality that is forced from their military scars. Of course, the movie lightens the vibe a little bit by shoving inside a romantic story, but in the right amount to make it relevant and delicate to make it good comedy, well blended in with the serious and heavy drama.

The side story about Alzheimer is another reminder for us that there are also other issues that can take place in regular's people lives. And once again, though this movie feels like 16 tons of heavyweight drama, I got out with a smile and a tear, because it handled all subjects so well and with such gentle care, that it just couldn't go wrong in any way.

Sonequa Martin-Green is such a great surprise. Didn't know her and never heard about her. She does such a fantastic job in this film. Natalie Morales also makes good work, as her deputy, but doesn't get close to the drama peaks Martin-Green gets to. Morgan Freeman does what he always does - narrates the movie without actually narrating it and Ed Harris is superb as the grumpy grandad.

I had expected other things from this movie and got such a lovely film, that caught me by surprise. It wasn't long and was pretty accurate on so many levels. It speaks about such important subjects, and it is a must watch, not too heavy and almost a feel-good movie, that will melt several hearts through the process.

Giving eight out of ten might seem like I did not enjoy the film that much, but that is far from true: for me it is actually a really, really high rating (I am a very picky movie watcher)! I watched the film at the TFF in Turin a few days ago, and I was quite happy the director was there to tell us the story behind the film, the reason why he chose two female actresses (fair point, by the way), etc. I guess he put his heart and soul into it, and it shows. It is a very honest film about PTSD, which got me thinking and made me both laugh and cry, which not many movies manage to do. It is the best I have seen so far at this year's TFF. The acting is also great, I loved the two main characters.