Over the course of the pandemic, many of us have had to up our screen time. Working from home looking at screens all day – whether computers or on Zooms – then at night having our choice for how to spend our downtime limited to television or our phones. It has been an unusual and trying time to say the least. But for some, this is the norm. Someone like data analyst Richard Boca (Beau Knapp – The Nice Guys, The Finest Hours) as this is how he earns his living.
Richard looks obsessively at screens all day long as he is a Wall Street data analyst. Very good at his job, he sees patterns few others do. Described in the milieu as quants or people with high-end mathematical skills who can predict the failing or surging of stocks. As such, he earns a good salary. High enough to live in a great penthouse apartment with a wonderful view over the city. The downside is that it is a rather isolated existence Richard leads. He seems to always be in his office or apartment rarely venturing out for downtime. That does not seem to bother him much…until it does.
Things change after, or even while, Richard decides to attend a company party. He meets two who will change his life. First is a mysterious woman named Lena (Charlotte Vega – The Lodgers, American Assassin). A woman who keeps the amount she speaks to a minimum. The second is a mosquito. After these encounters, Richard’s mind seems to spiral into insanity.
This psychological horror is a film whose intent is to bring you on a ride of the unpredictable up and down variety. Coupled with some disturbing visuals, Mosquito State is not an easy watch. And I have not even mentioned that distinctive high-pitch sound which mosquitos make. Which happens quite often and to disturbing effect over the course of the hour and 40 minutes of the film.
We have been served many an apocalyptic film. So many that one seems to blend into the next. Here director/co-screenwriter Filip Jan Rymsza (Dustclouds), who is directing his first film in 13 years, attempts one which is certainly left of center. The not always obvious disaster is the spectre of the 2007 stock market crash, bumped up by some commentary on masculinity and capitalism. But who are we kidding, what folks watching will find most disturbing is the ever-growing number of mosquitos. Though mosquitos are tiny what Rymsza has going for him is that no one, and I mean no one, likes the pests. When they begin the process of colonization right in Richard’s large apartment then all bets are off. We are disturbed.