Magic Hour Film Review: Grief is Unique

Katie Aselton’s Magic Hour is a compassionate exploration of one woman’s struggle with grief after the loss of her partner.

Magic Hour plays its cards close to the chest as it begins. There seems to be some kind of friction between Erin (Katie Aselton, of Mack & Rita) and Charlie (Daveed Diggs, of In the Blink of an Eye). When Erin arrives at the gorgeous desert home, we see Charlie sitting with their friend Marshall (Brad Garrett, of Elio). She barely acknowledges Charlie until Marshall leaves, and even after that, there is a distance between them that holds until Erin has an outburst, and we realize that Charlie is no longer alive.

As the film progresses, we see Erin dealing with her grief in a multitude of ways. In one of the most beautiful scenes in the movie, a group of drag queens shows up at the house. They explain that, as people who are demonized for who they are, they understand grief. They go on to say that part of how they deal with that sadness is by dressing up and being unapologetically themselves. They force Erin to put on makeup and a sparkly dress, and in that moment, she has one of the few truly happy moments in the film.

Even though the overwhelming tone of Magic Hour is somber, there is a sense of humor woven through it, likely due to Aselton’s husband and writing partner, Mark Duplass. Some of the tonal shifts throughout the film may be off-putting to some viewers, but there is an absurdity to grief that this script taps into that really worked for me. While many of the themes in the movie are fairly standard, the structure of this felt unique and engaging. For each encounter that Erin has with someone in the real world, she then processes it with Charlie. That back-and-forth between real life and Erin’s imagination creates some truly fascinating moments.

Both Katie Aselton and Daveed Diggs give truly lovely performances. Often in these kinds of movies, the dead character is forced to behave very evenly because, after all, they aren’t alive, so their emotions are more tempered. Magic Hour gives Charlie a broader range to play in, and Diggs takes advantage of that. He is also given some of the film’s more bizarre moments and somehow manages to make them work.

Aselton had a more difficult task, portraying a woman who is unraveling following the death of her spouse, without coming across as crazy. Obviously, Erin’s mental state is tenuous if she is seeing her dead husband everywhere, but at no point does it seem like she is completely untethered from reality. The way Aselton rides the line between sanity and insanity is brilliant, and that performance enhances the movie as a whole.

Additionally, this is a genuinely beautiful movie. Filmed outside of Joshua Tree and shot by director of photography Sarah Whelden, seemingly entirely during the golden hour, the lighting in this film is stunning. The way that the interactions between Erin and Charlie are shot also creates a deeper sense of intimacy between them, allowing the audience to have a better understanding of how close they were. 

Mourning has been the subject of many movies over the years, so there is little new that one can bring to the table when tackling that topic. While Magic Hour does not try to reinvent the wheel, it does provide another framework for that discussion. And with grief experienced in so many different ways, a slightly different lens can help someone better understand themselves.

Magic Hour will be released in US theatres on May 15, 2026.