After being denied payment by one of her hair clients, Danny desperately reaches out to other clients for a quick appointment but is turned down with each attempt.
On the verge of a change after some major setbacks, Danny spends her day skating around town to come up with the last $200 she needs for the deposit. The ensuing day sees hope rise and fall as she searches all avenues to find a few extra dollars to afford a security deposit on an apartment. Having lost her husband unexpectedly, and the COVID-19 pandemic costing her the ability to make a living, Danny finds herself and her daughter on an extended “camping trip” with everything they own stuffed inside a tent along the side of the road. In Kelley Kali and Angelique Molina’s I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking), Danny (Kali) struggles to come up with the money she needs for a new apartment. It’s an appeal for empathy with a lot of heart.Director: Kelley Kali and Angelique Molina But the filmmakers care too much about her to leave her hanging, offering a solution that gives her growth and grace.Ī small story with large stakes for its main character, I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) reminds us there’s a lot going on in someone’s life, even when they insist all’s well. (“All your ideas end up like this, Brooklynn,” Danny notes.) Danny finally lets down her guard and also winds up in a tree, literally out on a limb, and imagining that she’s underwater.
She crosses paths with people whose timing or advice couldn’t be worse, such as a flirty high-roller in a convertible (Deon Cole of Grown-ish) and her chatty friend Brooklynn (BK Marie) who provides a joint and some comic relief. Danny and her customers wear face masks, the landlord frets about germs, and Danny insists, “I’m fine, I’m fine” whenever someone asks about her, Wes, or her late husband.ĭanny never wants to stop to talk for long, as if she can will what she needs into existence by momentum alone. The filmmakers, who co-wrote the script with Roma Kong, keep up the momentum as Danny’s day sours, with an awareness of COVID-19 along for the ride. Kali says that director Sean Parker ( The Florida Project, Tangerine) is one of her influences, recognizable in highlighting this woman on the margins as well as in wide shots of Danny and Wes walking from their makeshift home to the city at large. Then one client stiffs her and another cancels, forcing Danny to deliver food and wonder how she’ll make it all work out.Ĭo-directors Kali ( The Adventures of Thomasina Sawyer) and Angelique Molina, making her feature debut, dress Danny in bright colors like the neighborhood playground and photograph her in the sunshine, cheerful counterparts to the pressure on her. While Wes stays with a friend for online learning, hairdresser Danny gets around town on roller skates, visiting clients and assuring her prospective landlord that she’ll pay him the following day. The film debuted this week at SXSW Online 2021 and earned Special Jury Recognition for its multihyphenate storytellers.ĭanny (Kelley Kali), a recent widow, lives with her daughter, Wes (Wesley Moss), in a tent outside LA, although Danny fibs by saying they’re camping for fun.
The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t the crux of the story in I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking), but it adds a relatable layer to this endearing feature about a single mom’s daylong hustle to earn cash for an apartment.
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