Coming Soon
FAILED STATE
2023
Director
Christopher Bell
Mitch Blummer
Starring
Dale A. Smith
Richard Gilbert
Melissa Rocha
Runtime
85 minutes
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Set during the height of COVID, Dale spends the majority of his time transporting various goods to people while attempting to carve out a social life in-between. Eventually the weight of work, his declining health and decaying social relations become too heavy to bear.
It is all too-rare to see American filmmakers engaging so directly with politics in an increasingly bleak work-for-hire-gig-focused economy, especially in ways that don’t involve 20-or-30-something’s struggling to navigate their burgeoning adulthood. FAILED STATE tackles uncomfortable conversations about work, aging, healthcare, and the limits of community – a master class in naturalism-turned-something-else-entirely.
“Overwhelming as a portrait of the present day, FAILED STATE has an intimate understanding of class struggle in the United States, with the shrinking value of every dollar making even the most miniscule of expenses appear to be an insurmountable mountain to climb, and every lingering moment with an acquaintance is a silent scream begging for connection. And it broke me by its conclusion. I would go as far as to say that this is one of the greatest films of the 21st century and the lack of distribution for this film is BAFFLING!!!” - James Edwardaro Willey
It is all too-rare to see American filmmakers engaging so directly with politics in an increasingly bleak work-for-hire-gig-focused economy, especially in ways that don’t involve 20-or-30-something’s struggling to navigate their burgeoning adulthood. FAILED STATE tackles uncomfortable conversations about work, aging, healthcare, and the limits of community – a master class in naturalism-turned-something-else-entirely.
“Overwhelming as a portrait of the present day, FAILED STATE has an intimate understanding of class struggle in the United States, with the shrinking value of every dollar making even the most miniscule of expenses appear to be an insurmountable mountain to climb, and every lingering moment with an acquaintance is a silent scream begging for connection. And it broke me by its conclusion. I would go as far as to say that this is one of the greatest films of the 21st century and the lack of distribution for this film is BAFFLING!!!” - James Edwardaro Willey