MOVIE OF THE WEEK May 15, 2026: MAGIC HOUR

It’s tricky to discuss Katie Aselton’s poignant relationship drama Magic Hour without revealing the story twists that give it such a powerful emotional punch. The writer-director-star crafts the first act of her film very carefully, setting viewers’ expectations and then challenging them. The result is both romantic and touching, with memorable performances by Aselton and co-star Daveed Diggs and a gorgeous, haunting setting amid the singular landscape of Joshua Tree.

The film opens with a playful phone video that makes it clear that Erin (Aselton) and Charlie (Diggs) have a happy marriage and are extremely into each other — so when the action then cuts to them arriving, much more somberly, to stay at a friend’s house in the desert, it’s obvious that something has changed. There are big feelings in the mix, and the couple definitely has challenges to work out. They walk, they talk, they argue, they embrace. Flashbacks address some of the obstacles they’ve already encountered, underlining fact that they care about each other deeply.

Aside from a few scenes with brief appearances by friends and family members — including Brad Garrett as their desert-house-owning friend, Marshall, a bevy of drag queens, and Susan Sullivan as Erin’s mother, Diane — Magic Hour is a two-hander, and Aselton and Diggs deliver. They’re believable as a couple, and they play Erin and Charlie’s ups and downs convincingly. Aselton co-wrote the film with her real-life husband, actor/filmmaker Mark Duplass, and much of the “in the present” dialogue between the two main characters has a real ring of authenticity. (The flashback videos slightly less so, but they have some heavy expository weight to bear.)

Sarah Whelden’s cinematography is another crucial aspect of the film: From golden desert landscapes to blurred moments of emotional intensity, the way the movie is photographed is key to telling its story. And once you understand exactly where that story is going, Magic Hour takes on deeper meaning — to the point that you may well decide to go back to the beginning and watch the first part again, through a lens of new understanding. – Betsy Bozdech

Team #MOTW’s comments:

Loren King Magic Hour tackles grief head-on. It’s an original and admirable attempt to convey what gutting loss feels like and tell it slant, from the perspective of both the living and the dead. It’s an updating of Ghost that even references that film. Director Katie Aselton stars as Erin —angry, lost, heartbroken — and we slowly understand why. Her beloved Charlie (Daveed Diggs in an award-worthy performance) is realer than real but exists only in memory, appearing alongside Erin in the Joshua Tree desert where she’s gone to heal. Aselton and co-writer Mark Duplass make stunning use of this isolated and eerily magical setting. The performances are razor sharp when the loss overpowers and achingly mournful when it upends them with the force of an undertow.

Sandie Angulo Chen: Magic Hour is a moving marital drama from writer-director Katie Aselton, who also stars opposite Daveed Diggs in this intimate two-hander. Co-written with Aselton’s husband and frequent collaborator Mark Duplass, the film explores themes of loss, memory, codependence, and survival through the story of Birdie (Aselton) and Charlie (Diggs), a couple retreating to a desert home owned by a close friend (Brad Garrett) to repair their seemingly fractured marriage. Both leads are terrific, evoking the inexplicable, often futile feeling of trying to move forward after trauma.

Nell Minow: Katie Aselton’s film is a meditation on grief and the struggle between holding on to what we’ve lost and the pull of a full life. The cinematic term that gives the film its title refers to those brief moments between day and evening when the light is soft and golden. Aselston’s character is also in between and the movie portrays her conflicting feelings empathetically and poetically.

Leslie Combemale Director and co-writer Katie Aselton deftly navigates telling the story at the center of Magic Hour, leveraging her work both behind the camera and in front, as one of the stars. She and co-writer Mark Duplass have created a believable couple in Erin (Aselton) and Charlie (Daveed Diggs). Their challenges both past and present fairly vibrate off the screen, due to their chemistry together, and the beautiful nuances they’ve built into the lives of the characters. Whether you can see the plot’s major “twist” a mile away or not, Erin and Charlie’s journey still resonates. Essentially, the message behind the film is that every single stage of a couple’s life together is hard. In Magic Hour, we get to see some of those stages up close.