Directed: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes
Written by: Kyle Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez
Starring: Sonequa Martin-Green, Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, Gloria Reuben, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Morgan Freeman
Runtime: 98 minutes
‘My Dead Friend Zoe’ keeps a vital message alive
When movie audiences meet Zoe (Natalie Morales) in director/co-writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ film, she looks alive. Zoe is best friends with her fellow 30-something, Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green).
The BFFs usually keep their banter light and casual, even though they attend a sobering support group for military veterans coping with post-traumatic stress disorder. However, we soon discover that Zoe is Merit’s creation in the here and now.
Zoe passed away, and Merit keeps her spirit alive by imagining her as she sets about her days.
Merit’s ingenuity also results in full-blown conversations with her departed comrade, which are often bewildering to those within earshot, including Dr. Cole (Morgan Freeman), who runs the PTSD therapy sessions.
Our heroine must work through her trauma inside and outside Dr. Cole’s assemblies. For many veterans, Merit’s story is not unique.
Hausmann-Stokes is a five-year U.S. Army veteran, and “My Dear Friend Zoe” is autobiographical.
In fact, during a February 2025 YouTube interview with Ashley & Company, Hausmann-Stokes says, “I keep telling people it’s 93 percent autobiographical.”
“My Dead Friend Zoe” is an extension of his 14-minute 2022 short film, “Merit x Zoe” (2022). In both films, Merit and Zoe are played by women, but the themes are universal. The affecting messages ring true through Hausmann-Stokes and A.J. Bermudez’s screenplay and Martin-Green’s and Morales’ performances, and the actresses have gracious and deep on-screen chemistry.
The grounded screenplay proudly marches in everyday discourse and humble settings. Although the film’s material is taxing, the relatively calm tones allow for a welcoming space for audiences to ease into Merit’s (and Zoe’s) world. Set in Portland, Ore. and nearby Molalla, a 10,000-person community that sits about 30 miles south of The Rose City, Merit lives in a small apartment in the former locale. Her financial state is not topical, but she’s trying to get her emotional house in order. She regularly stays home while Zoe watches television, like “M*A*S*H” (1972-1983) reruns, and Merit frequently rushes out the door for a run as a mechanism to shut out the world and her memories.
Her daily patterns have her stuck in neutral, but her surroundings change – literally and figuratively – when she drives to Molalla, along with Zoe, to visit her grandfather, Dale (Ed Harris), who has early stages of Alzheimer’s. Merit’s mother, Kris (Gloria Reuben), assigns her daughter to manage the logistics of placing Dale in an assisted living facility.
Harris and Martin-Green have authentic grandfather/granddaughter vibes, and the gruff, by-the-book Dale keeps Merit on the right “page” (for the most part). Still, there is love and admiration between the two family members, despite Dale’s complaints about the younger generation of soldiers. Dale is a Vietnam vet.
Martin-Green convincingly plays the emotionally wounded Merit. She battles internal strife and avoids confrontation with external forces, as Hausmann-Stokes places human obstacles in the form of Dr. Cole, her mom, her grandpa, a potential love interest named Alex (Utkarsh Ambudkar), and Zoe.
Throughout the picture, she procrastinates and sidesteps responsibilities to cope in the moment, as “My Dead Friend Zoe” mostly avoids violence save for one scene when Dale punishes a helpless garbage can. The screenplay excludes physical clashes in the present day, which is an appreciative reprieve from possible expectations, but the 98-minute film includes recurrent flashbacks to Merit and Zoe’s shared lives in the Middle East.
The soldiers are not on the front lines but “safely” within an American base. Still, Zoe carries a specific object during several exchanges with her friend during their duty and in Merit’s current existence that foreshadows a past tragedy. Yesterday’s heartbreak will eventually reveal itself, and this fact accentuates the thankful, long stretches of relative peace today.
“My Dead Friend Zoe” is an empathetic film, one that – no doubt – is cathartic for our director/co-writer and most likely for other vets, too. During the movie, the cast – led by Martin-Green and Morales – seems to gel gently and purposefully to tell Kyle’s story. Additionally, the actors offer testimonies after the movie’s last scene, which confirms our sense of a positive thespian collaboration.
It’s a film that keeps a vital message alive.
Jeff’s ranking
3/4 stars
