“Mouse” Is Centerpiece Film at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival
Directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson return to their Chicago home base with “Mouse,” a quietly devastating film about best friends Minnie Dunn (Katherine Mallen Kupferer) and the incandescent Callie Bell (Chloe Coleman) in 2002 Little Rock, Arkansas. The film was the Centerpiece film of the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival and Oscar nominee Sophie Okkonedo was awarded the Spotlight Award at the Music Box Theater on October 21, 2026.
THE PLOT
Set during their senior year, the film opens with possibility for Callie (Chloe Coleman) and Minnie (Katherine Mallen Kupferer)—Callie dreams big (“There’s nothing wrong with wanting a big life”), while Minnie admits, “I think I’m gonna’ have a small one.” A car accident changes everything, killing Callie. The rest of *Mouse* becomes a meditation on how people survive grief.
CAST
Tara Mullen and Katherine Mullen Kupferer as mother and daughter in “Mouse” at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival.
The cast is exceptional. Kupferer and real-life mother Tara Mallen as her onscreen mother Barbara explore a fractured mother-daughter bond with tenderness. Sophie Okonedo (Oscar-nominated for “Hotel Rwanda”) delivers perhaps her best role as Callie’s grieving mother Helen. David Hyde Pierce (“Frasier”) brings warmth as the drama teacher, Mr. Murdaugh.
SCRIPT
Writer/Director Kelly O’Sullivan (“Ghostlight”) and Alex Thompson at the Centerpiece presentation of “Mouse’ at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival.
O’Sullivan’s script balances humor and heartbreak beautifully. Much of the film’s comedy emerges naturally—the talent show dedicated to Callie becomes a vessel for both laughter and pain. The dialogue feels lived-in, drawn from O’Sullivan’s own Arkansas childhood and scrapbooks.
THE HEART
Sophie Okonedo receiving her Spotlight Awrd on October 21 at the Music Box Theater in Chicago during the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival.
“Mouse” understands that grief doesn’t resolve—it’s endured. Minnie tries filling the void by becoming closer to Helen and even attempting to sing (not her strength), but Minnie can’t replace Callie. Helen’s marriage fractures. Both women are learning, as the film says, that “a big part of the grief journey is learning how to set boundaries.”
The climactic scene—Minnie’s performance of “One” at the Senior Cabaret talent show while Helen is present—captures the film’s deepest truth: sometimes love means showing up imperfectly, and sometimes walking away is all you can do.
CONCLUSION
“Mouse” is a thoughtful, relatable film about a universal truth we’d all rather avoid: we will grieve. This film treats that inevitability with honesty, sensitivity, humor, and profound compassion. It opens November 6, 2026.
