REVIEW: ‘My Dead Friend Zoe’ Delicately Examines PTSD

In the past decade, there’s been an ongoing national conversation about mental health. Media in the U.S. more frequently than ever integrates narratives that focus on the everyday battle so many of us face with ourselves. My Dead Friend Zoe examines the nationwide mental health crisis through a specific lens: PTSD suffered by veterans. Directed by veteran Kyle Hausmann-Stokes from a script by himself and A.J. Bermudez, My Dead Friend Zoe drives home the heartbreaking struggle countless Americans back from war experience upon coming home. Its dubious politics regarding the United States military aside, it carries with it palpable authenticity.

Civilian life hasn’t been easy for Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green). After returning from Afghanistan, she struggles to maintain a relationship with her family. She barely makes it to her court mandated support group led by Dr. Cole (Morgan Freeman). Oh yeah, and she sees her deceased comrade-in-arms Zoe (Natalie Morales) everywhere she goes. Merit finds a new purpose whenever her mother Kris (Gloria Reuben) asks her look after her father and Merit’s ailing grandfather Dale (Ed Harris) as she attempts to make arrangements for him to move to a nursing home.

A major strength of My Dead Friend Zoe is its refusal to sugarcoat or glamorize. Hausmann-Stokes plays the story as a straightforward slice-of-life into the every day experience of a veteran. On a formal level, director of photography Matt Saktani Roe and editor Ali Greer try to make their work as invisible as possible to focus on Merit’s story.

As Merit, Sonequa Martin-Green gives what should easily go down as one of the bravest performances at SXSW 2024. Martin-Green carries Merit with a brittle poise, conveying a character trying to navigate the world appearing as “normal” as possible. Meanwhile, a comedic relief-providing firecracker Morales is the voice inside her head encouraging her avoidance. Not to discredit Morales’ work at all, but she’s merely a tool for Sonequa Martin-Green’s bravura work.

You feel Merit’s emotional turmoil as she slowly crumbles under the weight of carrying her pain. In a devastating graveyard set scene, she finally lets it all out. The raw honesty in which Martin-Green plays this scene left nary a dry eye at the film’s premiere. If I had to wager a guess, a good many audiences will react that way. Nevertheless, what makes her performance stick out is that there are many scenes that allow her moments of tranquility amongst the storm. Her primal release of emotion doesn’t work without, say, the calm of a romantic subplot involving nursing home manager Alex (Utkarsh Ambudkar).

Additionally, the subplot involving Merit and her grandfather Dale hits just as hard. Harris has settled well into the role of an old curmudgeon. More importantly, their relationship explores generational trauma given to veterans of different wars. At first, Merit and Dale fail to find solid ground over their very different war experiences. Somehow, though, they come together over a universal feeling of being left behind. Merit feels this from her friend’s death. Dale feels this from the realization of his age.

What My Dead Friend Zoe fails to thread the needle on is its stance on the U.S. military. Simply put, it doesn’t take a position. Sure, the film displays the effects that going to war has on the mind. But it doesn’t explore at all what may have caused that beyond war being held. At a time where the military industrial complex faces a great amount of scrutiny, it feels odd to make a film that doesn’t comment on the systems that send people to war. Moreover, My Dead Friend Zoe doesn’t ever ask the question “what were we fighting for?”

Despite this lack of commentary, My Dead Friend Zoe still leaves a mark. Hausmann-Stokes has made a film about PTSD from the military, but it feels relevant to those who have suffered PTSD in any form. One of its banes in lack of commentary becomes a strength as, through a restrained direction and Earth-shaking work by Sonequa Martin-Green, My Dead Friend Zoe achieves a reflection of an under-discussed aspect of humanity.

My Dead Friend Zoe screened as part of the 2024 SXSW Film and TV Festival.