Michael's Movie Grade: A-
A beautiful and moving dramedy.
This film tells the story of a young woman, who is having trouble moving from the death of her army buddy. She says her friend everywhere she goes and even talk to and interacts with her. I find it hard to believe that this movie will fail to pull on anyone's heartstrings. In lesser hands a film like this could come off as emotionally manipulated. However, this movie is so extremely honest and sincere that it is hard not to be moved. Director and co-writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes is a veteran who has based this movie on his comrades who have passed on. With this film, he lays his emotions completely on the line and allows himself to be very vulnerable and personal. To be this open and honest with your first feature film, couldn't have been easy and perhaps that only adds to the emotional effectiveness. Sonequa Martin-Green and Natalie Morales' performances also help make this story feel incredibly real to us. Having a supporting cast that includes Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman doesn't hurt either. As emotional as this story gets the filmmakers balance the serious themes with a sense of dark humor. This humor is not only often quite funny, but it is always in the service of the story and characters. Because of this it never distracts from the raw emotion but adds to it.
Though there are a few predictable plot points here, there are also some twists that you don't see coming. Yet these twists make perfect sense in the story and are very intelligent and heartfelt.
This is simply a must see.
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