My Dead Friend Zoe is an incredibly important exploration of the grief and trauma of veterans featuring two spectacular performances from Sonequa Martin-Green and Natalie Morales, resulting in one deeply moving film that marks the feature debut of writer and director Kyle Hausmann-Stokes as one of the most impressive new filmmakers.

 

Premiering last year at the SXSW Film Festival and picking up the Audience Award, and acquiring Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce as an executive producer back in the fall, Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ feature directorial debut is finally making its public debut. Inspired by the friendships he made while serving in the United States military as a paratrooper and dealing with personal themes of loss, grief, survivor’s guilt, and the veteran experience, Hausmann-Stokes mixes black comedy with an intimate character study to create one deeply moving and hilarious film that is bound to win audiences over. Though it is the winning pairing of Sonequa Martin-Green and Natalie Morales in the lead roles of Merit and Zoe respectively that makes My Dead Friend Zoe not only a film that is going to resonate with viewers and help continue the discussion and support for veteran mental health, but it is one of the first truly great films of 2025.

 

The strength of My Dead Friend Zoe lies in its screenplay and story, which explores the life of a veteran re-adjusting to life back home after service and a personal loss with an honesty and vulnerability that creates the emotional backbone of the entire film. Within the first few scenes, the audience learns that Merit’s best friend Zoe is dead, despite her mind having Zoe with her at all times, but we are not given any context as to how Zoe died. As Merit refuses to talk about and even think about Zoe’s passing, in a hope to prevent her friend’s memory from leaving her, the audience continues through the film in the dark about the past trauma that is causing such struggle for Merit, until she herself is ready to face it herself. Zoe is used as a coping mechanism for Merit’s grief, at times distracting her from her PTSD with some hilarious moments that shows more than just trauma riddled veterans, but at other times Zoe becomes a physical manifestation of that PTSD, pushing Merit to her breaking point in a hope of providing closure by finally facing the truth of Zoe’s passing. Between Merit’s inability to talk about Zoe, her relationship with her grandfather who is a Vietnam veteran himself also struggling, and the support group run by Morgan Freeman’s Dr. Cole, Hausmann-Stokes highlights the importance of providing veterans with the ability to discuss their past, their personal struggles and mental health in a safe and supportive environment, as the consequences of not having such a space is sadly too often tragic. The result is a deeply moving film, one in which Hausmann-Stokes can be immensely proud of as he achieves his aspiration of providing viewers with a better understanding of veterans and their lives thanks to the vulnerable and honest exploration of the themes he achieves in the film.

 

In doing all this, Hausmann-Stokes tells his story through Merit, played fantastically by Martin-Green in one of the best performances of the year so far. In every scene, Martin-Green internalizes Merit’s pain and PTSD and has it inform her character in every scene. Capturing the struggle that Merit has to face her path, Martin-Green humanizes this veteran trying to move forward with her life despite being unable to face the trauma of her past. It’s a beautiful performance that has moments of pure joy and life, while also going to an incredibly vulnerable place in the film’s more emotional moments that will break viewers and leave them in tears. It’s too early to be predicting awards nominations, but Martin-Green is definitely one to keep an eye on for the Best Actress category. Co-starring with Martin-Green is Morales as Merit’s dead friend Zoe, who is a figment of Merit’s imagination. In the majority of her scenes, Morales revels in the comedic moments of her character and provides a levity to the film to counter the heavier subject matter. Though when the script is called upon for Zoe to force Merit to address her past, Morales finds a dramatic weight and creates some of the most emotionally charged moments of the film and gives both her and Martin-Green the depth to truly affect audiences with their performances. As a pairing, Martin-Green and Morales are dynamite together, capturing an everlasting bond between their two characters instantly and developing such a beautiful friendship that energizes the entire film.