Kenny Riches’ movie Mouse was released in 2025 and debuted at the Brooklyn Film Festival, where it won Best Narrative Feature. Fast-forward to September 2026, and it has been rolled out in cinemas for a larger audience to enjoy a movie that brings together fears we all share and wraps them in the thriller genre.
The story follows Denny (played by writer Kenny Riches), a petty thief who lives with his Japanese mother (played by Kenny’s real mother) in Utah.
One day, Denny finds a poster to find a pen pal, which is a service run by a couple, Tess and Maury, with the intent to scam customers. Yet, they aren’t the only ones lying as Denny creates a whole personality as he gets closer to Tess, to the point that they speak on the phone and choose to meet up in person. Yet as the lies tangle, they lead to heartbreak and loss for everyone involved.
“Loneliness makes you do strange things.”
“I’d lie if I didn’t say I was lonely.”
These two lines stand out in the film and are the perfect way to describe what Mouse is about. While some may believe that the story is about Denny being “scammed” by Tess and Maury, it feels like Denny’s desire to beat loneliness and the means he would go to in achieving this is the real focus.
One of the standout features of the film is the narration. From the very start, as the audience watches what is happening, they learn more about Denny’s life through his voice-over. Later, Tess also has her own narration, using it to give viewers insight into her life and the reasons for her actions. It adds an extra layer to the movie, creating a separation between the movie and its characters, eliciting empathy amid the chaos.
As Tess and Denny become more invested in each other, the lies that began at the very beginning start to spiral. What started as a different name on a lost card led Denny to invent a whole new life with a beautiful house, a great job, and a luxurious lifestyle. The only authenticity in his story lies in his admission that he has no friends aside from his mother.
The narration stops when Denny and Tess finally meet in a large house that is the epitome of luxury. This desire to be accepted by Tess leads him to escalate his “crimes,” including knocking out the owner of the house he was using to maintain the wealthy image he had set up. It seems to mark a part of the story that is less for viewers to interpret, but instead for them to focus on all the details, starting from the moment that Denny knocks the owner unconscious to use the house.
As the two start to get close, all the lies come to haunt the pair as Maury gatecrashes their date. Trying to get rid of Denny, they stumble upon the owner of the house, leading to him shooting Maury, and then the owner is shot by Tess. During this, Denny makes it out of the closet to see what has happened, but as Tess leaves, Denny chooses to clean the house and remove all evidence.
When the two separate and the story moves on, the narration resumes with Denny explaining what happened to him and Tess after the incident. Denny continues his lonely life with his mother, but explains that Tess was arrested. Denny’s narrative is the most important for the ending as he shares that he has continued to write to Tess, and it ends with him sitting outside and reading a letter from her, just reading “Dear Denny.”
Although there has been a running discourse about colours in cinema darkening and seeming more subdued, the darker composition of the scenes in Mouse is used perfectly here. It makes the atmosphere far more mysterious, and, in particular, renders the ending scenes even darker, showing a change in the movie’s tone and narrative. From start to end, it is the choices in the cinematic production that make the film even easier to immerse yourself in.
At first glance, it seems hard to relate to any of the characters, since they are all “criminals” in their own way. Yet Denny’s character is perfectly relatable to many people: an adult stuck in a rut and all alone, trying any way they can to battle the demons inside. Mouse is a complicated story with many layers, but every scene allows the watcher to interpret the film in their own way.
Information on Kenny Riches’ “Mouse” can be found on the movie’s Instagram here.