Combining humor and melancholy, Magic Hour, pulls on the heartstrings as it explores the nature of love and grief in a tightly paced, albeit predictable, drama.
Magic Hour (2026)
Directed By: Katie Aselton
Written By: Katie Aselton and Mark Duplass
Starring: Katie Aselton, Daveed Diggs, Brad Garrett, Susan Sullivan
Release Date: May 15, 2026
Having premiered at last year’s SXSW Film Festival, Katie Asleton’s Magic Hour is hitting theaters late this week. Bringing together a pair of absolutely stellar performances from both herself and Daveed Diggs, it takes a fresh approach to love and loss when it comes to relationships.
The film puts the focus on Erin (Asleton) and Charlie (Diggs) who embark on a trip to the desert, staying at a friends house as their relationship hits a strange, new point. There in isolation, they must navigate all new hardships in order to find a way forward together…or not.
Here’s the thing, it’s almost impossible to talk about this film without getting into spoilers. So that’s what I’m going to do. Normally it’s something I typically avoid for initial reviews, but Magic Hour‘s entire premise hinges on a specific aspect. So consider this your warning. To be fair, however, the big twist is revealed fairly early on and isn’t particularly well hidden. I actually figured it out just from watching the trailer.
The point is, even if you go into the film completely spoiled on this plot point, it doesn’t detract from it in any way. Honestly, I’m not sure why the marketing seems so intent on hiding it.
Any way…Are you ready?
Still here? Okay. Charlie is dead. This is the “new phase” in their relationship as Charlie’s spirit is still attached to this plane of existence and the two continue to interact as a couple despite this. The film doesn’t go to great lengths to explain exactly what’s going on to create this situation.
There are some allusions to Charlie being in a sort of limbo area. A frequent point brought up by the characters is whether or not Charlie is going to “stay,” implying he has the choice to move on to the afterlife or stay with Erin in this half-life kinda situation. There are also some moments/suggestions that genuinely make you wonder if this ghostly version of her husband is just a figment of her imagination. A construct of her mind’s inability to deal with the sudden trauma.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. In fact, leaving this aspect open to interpretation is one of the things I enjoyed most about the story. It’s a fantastic way of showing the mental toll grief and tragedy can take on a person; the swirl of emotions that make you feel like you’re only one step away from madness.
Additionally, I love how Magic Hour handles Charlie popping in and out of scenes. Sometimes he’s gone for long stretches of time (much to Erin’s dismay) and others he’s merely watching Erin from the background while she goes about menial tasks. It’s highly effective visual storytelling, showing how grief can literally haunt a person. How even when things begin to feel “normal” once again, grief can hang about like a lingering shadow.
Then there’s the acting and character interactions. The bulk of the film is largely Charlie and Erin talking to one another in this house in the desert. Some other characters pop up to offer sage advice or necessary respites that get the story itself moving forward, but these two characters do all the heavy lifting. With that in mind, it’s impressive how well the movie manages to hook you.
There are some tedious, circular moments (such is the nature of grief as well) here and there, but Magic Hour manages to keep you invested emotionally in the story. Much of that has to do with the wonderful performances from Asleton and Diggs. They bring these characters to life in fun ways that feel natural and full fleshed out; even though we’re only seeing a small sliver of their lives.
So much of the emotional attachment comes from how they portray these characters. They’re almost instantly relatable, which makes the heartbreak of what they’re enduring all the more poignant and gripping. Even if you’re not entirely sold on the premise or how it plays out, there’s no denying the raw emotional much of the film manages to elicit.
The biggest issue I have with Magic Hour comes to its ending. Sure, it’s predictable, but that’s not really the problem. It’s more that Erin reaches her epiphany—that the only way forward is to let go of Charlie—rather suddenly. Again, it’s predictable in that we can see the film lay out the path and plant the seeds of her getting to this conclusion, but the actual process of her reaching that point is muddled.
It felt like we were missing a few key scenes. She spends the majority of the film distraught, near breakdown, and unable to see a way forward in life without Charlie at her side. All of which is completely understandable and shown well within the story, but we don’t see the growth for the other side of her grief. The turning point for her comes almost too fast, too conveniently.
It’s not the worst ending, and manages to still be highly emotional, but the switch feels jarring enough to be out of place. Magic Hour is still an impressive, often humorous, and all too relatable exploration of heartbreak and grief. The rather quick ending and predictable nature of it, however, holds it back from its full potential.
