Co-directors Kelly Kali and Angelique Molina’s dark comedy “I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking)” is the newest in what’s become an elongated line of pandemic-themed cinema. Following Danny (Kali) and Wes (Wesley Moss), a houseless mother and daughter, “I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking)” feels as though it would be infinitely better if it weren’t set during the pandemic. See, we’re, of course, over a year into this never-ending slog. And what once produced topical documentaries recounting the early scary days of this onslaught now appears as feature-length narratives. And very few of these projects possess the requisite distance to fully articulate the scale of the loss.
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“I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking)” is one of them. Written by Kali, Molina, and Roma Kong — “I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking)” tries to articulate the shortcomings of the gig economy and the challenges of grief and motherhood yet often fails to confront these issues head-on. It’s an anfractuous story that needs its full 90-minute runtime to impart a kernel of spiritual truth.
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Ever since Danny’s husband passed away, her life has felt less full. She and her daughter Wes live houseless in a tent nestled in a sunflower field on the side of the interstate. We’re not sure how long they’ve been here. But they’ve lived there long enough for Wes not to be in school and for Danny’s friends to have taken notice of their absence. Even so, life is looking up for mother and daughter. After scratching and saving, they’re $200 away from renting an apartment. Danny just needs to drop off Wes for the day at a friend’s place, conduct a couple of hair appointments to earn the final $200 and visit the landlord with the cash.
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Regrettably, life is rarely so easy. A confluence of calamities befalls the widowed mother, whereby her plans go up in smoke. Consequently, she faces a difficult decision: If she sells her husband’s gold ring to a pawnbroker barber (I’ve gotta know if this is an LA thing or not), she’ll receive $300. If she doesn’t, she’ll risk losing the apartment. Danny isn’t willing to sell the ring. Her heartache remains fresh. See, this gold band is totemic of her multiple losses — her home, her life, her husband — and thematically feels relevant to all this apathetic pandemic has ripped from viewers.
Unfortunately, “Thanks for Asking,” being a pandemic-era film, is what often holds the dark comedy back—kitschy pop culture-based jokes about entanglement and Karens land with the thud of old news. When a character wears a mask or goes maskless, the choreography offers nonverbal undercurrents before dialogic interludes, yet often distracts.
Also, the film’s stream of events illogically meanders. For instance: To make the necessary $200, Danny becomes a food courier for a delivery app. On her rollerblades, she visits her clients, exhausting herself in the process. We know her ploy won’t work because the mechanics are so unbelievable. Does this app do same-day pay? Does she have a bank account to direct deposit the money? These details might feel like minutiae. But the suspension of disbelief is made rough in the contours of Danny’s situation.
Other digressions find Danny running into an old flame who’s not quite forgotten her. Another sees her getting high with another past acquaintance. And one other witnesses her fighting for her life against another houseless man — a total tonal misfire. Some laughs are found, some duds appear, but all-in-all, the hijinks are shaky.
Also, for some reason, the filmmakers thought separating Danny from her daughter, only to re-pair the two in the film’s latter stages, made for a good strategy. When really they’re depriving themselves of an emotional lynchpin. It’s not until mother and daughter reunite that “Thanks for Asking” fully engages with its inherent pathos — grief and motherhood — and finally delivers real gut punches. Kali’s performance solidifies from its unfocused roots to a sincere brokenness. The film’s aesthetics become less rooted in expansive drone shots by instead rendering intimate close-ups of Danny’s frazzled, overwhelmed face.
This attunement offers the film a chance to breathe, to reflect. Danny confronts her loss by finally putting her daughter first. And in a literal wish-fulfillment scene, when Danny must finally give up the ghost, she shares a heartfelt conversation with her Wes that rips the mask off the pandemic-size wound. Kali and Molina’s “I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking)” frustratingly struggles to find its way, but when it does, this story of houselessness, grief, and motherhood blossoms like a sunflower in a rich field of pathos. And offers a very brief balm to these heady times. [C+]
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