Kelley Kali, Wesley Moss, Dominique Molina, Ira Scipio
Kelley Kali and Angelique Molina’s award-winning debut – made on a micro-budget in 2020, and partly financed with coronavirus stimulus funding – explores the hardships of the COVID-19 era on working-class American life.
A recent widow and young mother, Danny (played by co-director Kali) says “I’m fine” in response to enquiries, but it isn’t the truth. Having lost her apartment during the COVID-19 crunch, she’s currently living in a tent with her young daughter Wes (Wesley Moss). Roller skating around her San Fernando Valley neighbourhood, she’s desperate for opportunities, trying to rustle up enough work to fund a new home and trying in general to “turn surviving into thriving”.
Eloquent on the particular shame and stresses of homelessness, and of poverty more broadly, I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) is appropriately set in California, a state of profound inequality currently undergoing one of America’s worst homelessness and housing crises. A fresh and charming watch – despite its study of the hardest challenges of this period – it’s brightly shot by cinematographer Becky BaiHui Chen, features a spirited soundtrack, and is sure to both resonate with and delight UK audiences.
