25/39
MY DEAD FRIEND ZOE is a dark comedy-drama that follows Merritt (Sonequa Martin-Green), a U.S. Army veteran in Afghanistan, who finds herself at odds with her family over the arrival of her best friend, Zoe (Natalie Morales), who died in the military. Despite the persistence of their veterans’ group counselor (Morgan Freeman), the strong love of their mother (Gloria Ruben), and the lightheartedness of an unexpected romance, Merritt and Zoe’s cozy, dysfunctional friendship isolates the two from the world. That is, until Merritt’s estranged grandfather (Ed Harris), holed up in the family’s ancestral lake house, begins to lose his way and needs the one thing he’s been denied… help. At its core, this is a companion film about a complicated friendship, a divided family, and the complex way we process grief.