My Dead Friend Zoe

It's 2016 Afghanistan. Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Zoe (Natalie Morales) are best friends in the Army. Some years later, Merit is in court-mandated group therapy headed by Dr. Cole (Morgan Freeman). She is talking to her dead friend Zoe. Her grandfather Dale (Ed Harris) has wandered away from home due to his early Alzheimer's.

This is inspired by a true story and probably speaks to a lot of military people's personal experiences. It also has some great actors here. As a story, it needs a destination. It needs a definite goal for Merit. There could have been a couple of possibilities. This could be a road trip where Merit tracks down her grandfather and she has to bring him home. Along the way, the car could break down. They could pick up a military hitchhiker. The movie is a bit aimless. Maybe that fits for someone suffering PTSD.

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.

Merit is a female Afghanistan veteran, back home in Oregon. As the movie begins we see flashback scenes which included her and her close friend Zoe deployed. But we soon realize that Zoe is dead yet in many scenes we see her, representing Merit's inability to get past all that.

Ed Harris does a good turn as Merit's elderly granddad, living in his long-time home on a small lake. Merit's mom, the man's daughter, is thinking that he might be developing dementia and she is actively trying to get him into an assisted living facility. Merit will play a pivotal role in resolving the issue.

Morgan Freeman also has a key role, he facilitates a group meeting and Merit is one of the participants. She has to complete the sessions and get his signature to keep her out of legal trouble but she is reluctant to share what is really going on. So he plays a pivotal role in helping her get past her own PTSD.

Good character study, my wife and I watched it at home, on DVD from our public library.

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.

While I can understand why some might have a real connection to this movie and rate it a 10 for that reason (ie you served in the military (thank you for your service), lost someone close to you, or had to deal with putting an elderly family member in an assisted living home against their will), this movie isn't an Oscar worthy film. At the same time it isn't a "1" , worth walking out on, not by a long shot.

Like many I saw this movie as it was playing as the Screen Unseen, Monday movie of the week (love this idea by the way). The script is ok, not terribly deep or thought provoking. There are some cute, funny moments scattered about, but not sure I'd put this in the dark comedy category.

Morgan Freeman isn't used very effectively as some scenes cried out for more interaction between him and the lead character. Without that character depth, anyone could have played that role as meaningfully as he did, which wasn't very.

The ending could have used a little more fleshing out of some details to really deliver. It wasn't bad, and it gets its point across just fine. But overall that's what this movie is, it's just there and it's just fine. That's not a terrible thing, but it's not an amazing thing either.

That said, I am glad I saw it and I enjoyed it.