Mouse

When her friendship with her best friend suddenly ends, Minnie must find a new direction in life.

The year is 2002 in Arkansas, and Minnie is not the main character in her own life. That role belongs to Callie, who takes all the attention. She is beautiful, popular and Minnie's very best friend. But as they are about to begin their final year of high school, Callie is torn away, and Minnie is left with a big, difficult question: who is she without Callie?

The film examines how young people in America try to shape an identity and a future in a society where opportunity is not necessarily felt to be within everyone's reach. Arkansas is far from the cultural centre of the USA, and the contrast between 2002 and youth today gives the film a view of what has changed – and what remains the same.

But the film's most beautiful question lies in its title: how do you stop making yourself small?

USA: What the F**k is this Place?

The American Dream has long been built on four tenacious ideals: success, freedom, belonging and individuality. These four films examine what happens when those ideals collide with reality – and meet their opposites: tragedy, oppression, helplessness and erasure.

Podcast host and screenwriter Gjermund Eriksen introduces four films that cast a critical eye on the American Dream, in the USA strand "What the F**k is this Place".