I'm Fine (Thanks For Asking)

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As part of the SXSW festival we got to see the comedy-drama I'm Fine (Thanks For Asking) by Kelley Kali and Angelique Molina. Once again, the action of this film takes place during the global pandemic of covid 19 and we follow the journey of a young African-American mother who is widowed, homeless and who must provide for her 8 year old daughter by informing her that they had to go camping for a few days. By hiding the truth from her, she is trying to quickly find a job and a way to find housing. She only needs 200 dollars to get a rental apartment.

It is easy to understand the desire of the writers and directors Kelley Kali and Angelique Molina, assisted by the screenwriter Roma Kong, to deliver a low-budget comedy-drama by surfing on the harmful effects of this pandemic that have brought additional difficulties to those who have difficulty finding a job or even keeping it and who are not lucky enough to have been able to save money.

In spite of all the care given to the script and the direction, the film really struggles to convince as its pace is too slow and shows some scriptural flaws. For example, it would have been much more convincing to leave this widowed mother and her daughter together throughout the story and not only at the beginning and towards the end. By depriving itself of an important dramatic pivot and by playing it easy, I'm Fine (Thanks For Asking) disappoints and misses its target.

Surfing on the theme of comedies in which the main character has a very short time to succeed in his mission, this comedy-drama certainly starts with a good idea but fails to exploit it completely correctly. This film, which takes place only for one day, could have been a successful comedy-drama if its springs had shown a little bit of originality and proposed a frenzied rhythm with punchy dialogues. In the present case, the film is too slow and did not totally convince us to hold our attention.

I'm Fine (Thanks For Asking)
Directed by Kelley Kali, Angelique Molina
Produced by Roma Kong, Angelique Molina, Kelley Kali, Capella Fahoome, Deon Cole
Executive Producers : Kelley Kali, Deon Cole, Capella Fahoome
Written by Kelley Kali, Angelique Molina, and Roma Kong
Starring Kelley Kali, Wesley Moss, Deon Cole, Brooklynn Marie, Steven Ira Scipio, Andrew Galvan, Lamar Usher, Brian Brooks II, Jacolyn Holmes, Xing-Mai Deng
Music by Erick Del Aguila
Cinematography: Becky Baihui Chen
Edited by Angelica López
Release date : March
Running time : 90 minutes

Seen on March 18, 2021 (SXSW)

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