'Mouse': a moving teen drama

I wasn't eager to see another coming-of-age movie about a high school misfit who must shed her insecurities and blossom, but Mouse -- a sensitive and often moving drama -- surprised me. Directors Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson (Ghostlight) deliver a story that relies heavily on the work of Katherine Mallen Kupferer, who plays Minnie, a girl who has spent most of her school life riding the coattails of popular Callie (Chloe Coleman), a kid with theatrical ambitions and mega-wattage charisma. It’s not a spoiler to tell you that Minnie’s life is upended when Callie dies in an early-picture car crash, shifting the movie into a multi-level study of grief. Callie’s bereft mother (Sophie Okonedo), a musically talented woman, wanted to see her daughter launch a show-business career. Okonedo's Helen has made being Callie’s mother her life’s work in much the same way that Minnie drew her identity from Callie's long-standing friendship. Helen and Minnie develop a relationship as Minnie tries…

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