Look, don’t call her Door Mouse. The title character played by Hayley Law prefers Mouse (for her hair, no doubt) and you’d be better off remembering that. Mouse is an artist by choice, making a horror/porn comic that she tries (and fails) to sell at a local comic shop. She also works at a burlesque called Mama’s at night, because everybody has bills to pay. Mama’s is ran by, as one might suspect, Mama (Famke Janssen) and it’s here that we meet most of our main players, all similarly nicknamed. Donal Logue is Eddie (the bouncer at Mama’s) and turns in a fantastic and subtle performance while Keith Powers (Famous In Love) plays Ugly, “Ugly was the only beautiful thing around here,” Mouse tells us in voiceover.

At its heart, Door Mouse is a film noir, leaning heavily into the normal tropes one might find in such a film, the narrator detective, the mystery that we are trying to help our hero solve, and the stylized dialogue that is almost poetry every time a character speaks. The story starts with the realization that Doe Eyes (Nhi Do) didn’t show up to work. Mama tasks Mouse with tracking her down, “find her, bring her back, I’ll tie her to the radiator,” Mama says. With the keys to Mama’s van in hand, Mouse heads to Mooney’s place, played by Avan Jogia (Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City). This is also Avan‘s writing and directorial debut and he KILLS it, we will see him again, hopefully, many many times if this is a sign of things to come.

From Bad to Worse

After a night spent at Mooney’s place (we all have needs), Mouse gets right to business, questioning him about what he may or may not know. Of course, he denies knowing anything but gives Mouse a warning that is echoed throughout the film, “you’re looking down deep wells little door mouse, asking dangerous questions.” Mouse will hear this from several other characters as the film progresses and it always delivers a chill. Mouse picks up Ugly and they continue the search by checking on a few leads, returning to Mama’s only to be greeted by Eddie, telling them there has been another abduction, Riz played by Michela Cannon.

With two girls now missing Mouse and Ugly shoot over to Craw Daddy’s (Gabriel Carter) place to ask some important questions. He’s in the girls game himself and would know who else has a game in town. He tasks them with a job to do if they want answers and they of course pull it off, the answers leading them to a high-end hotel ran by the elite where girls are forcefully bought and sold for the pleasure of the scumbags within. They realize they’re running out of time when the body of one of the girls is found in a trunk, they have to get inside that hotel, figure out what’s going on, and find a way to stop it. The third act of Door Mouse is noir twists and turns at its best.

The Good

The fact that Avan Jogia is only thirty years old and this is the first film he has written and directed is mind-blowing to me. He nails the aesthetic of classic film noir, from the camera moves to the dialogue, from the voiceover to how the mystery slowly unravels before our eyes. But that said, he adds so much to it as well. Mouse is a comic artist and Avan has layered in, throughout the movie, animated sequences to show us how Mouse is seeing the world and things around her. His choice of music plays against type at almost every turn as well, adding a very punk-rock feel. It’s familiar yet brand new all at the same time.

The cast is also on point from beginning to end, clearly, everyone was all in on this one. Hayley Law‘s Mouse is a highly engaging character and her portrayal makes me hope for a sequel. We don’t need one, it wrapped up perfectly, but I want one selfishly. I also want to take this time to give special mention to Elizabeth Saunders who plays The Dame. She is in one and a half scenes and completely steals the show. Her villain is so calm saying things so horrible and her performance was the best I’ve seen so far this year. It was incredible. And now for the bad parts, don’t be silly, have you been listening? This is my favorite movie so far this year by a mile. If I had to give criticism it would simply be that it wasn’t long enough. The movie very comfortably tells the story it came to tell in a neat and quick hour and thirty-seven minutes but I could have used more time with these characters. I want to know more, I need to know more.

Conclusion:

Door Mouse is a slick neo-noir that adds a lot to a genre that we don’t get enough of. From beginning to end it keeps you guessing but engaged, it never tips its hand until its ready to and when it does, YOU may not be ready. My friends and I have a way of describing a film when we can’t quite put our finger on what makes it so good or so special, we call them, “those movies.” We will say that to each other, “it’s one of ‘those movies’,” and we instantly know what we are in for. Door Mouse is definitely one of “those movies” from the plot to the pacing, to the acting and the specific way the dialogue is delivered. It reminds me in the best way of one of my favorite films, Brick, and this is a high compliment.

My final judgment is you have to see this film, whether it’s in a theater (it is getting a limited release) or even at home from VOD. It deserves to be watched by as many people as possible. Indie films often go unnoticed by the general public so if you watch and love it as much as I did, tell five people. Tell ten people. Door Mouse is a masterpiece.