I look back at the year 2007 with a sort of tepid nostalgia. It was a rough year for many reasons. A big event that began that year and dipped into 2008 was the infamous Wall Street stock market crash. Messy times, indeed. That is the backdrop for the drama Mosquito State from director Filip Jan Rymsza.
I am not familiar with his previous work, so I was not sure what to expect. Except for mosquitos. Slight trigger warning if you have sensitive ears. The buzzing of the mosquito becomes a fixture of the audio mix throughout. If it was designed to cause stress, I would say it did the job.
The star, Beau Knapp, plays Richard Boca, a socially distant yet prodigious mathematical model student. He is exceptionally talented, which has made him a ton of money for the trade-sharing company that employs him. Richard makes a rare public appearance outside of regular office hours at a work party, befriending a lovely wine aficionado, Lena (Charlotte Vega), and being the most undervalued person by everyone else in the room.
A mosquito lands on his collar and hitches a ride to Richard’s home. Lena goes home with Richard, although her stay doesn’t end as romantically as probably intended. The new dweller, however, has made itself at home. Richard’s apartment is grand yet soulless. It’s a grand edifice of detached spaces that mirrors Richard perfectly. The mosquito he brought home finds a glass of water and begins to reproduce.
If you are not a fan of bugs, close-ups, or queasy imagery, consider turning away at a few scenes in this film. As the mosquito’s larvae develop, the bites Richard sustained grow into obnoxious cyst sizes. Eventually, he succumbs to multiple bites as insects slowly overrun his residence. The insects themselves play a more prominent role than an allegorical one.
The opening credits, brilliantly designed but subtly uneasy, explore the stages of a mosquito’s development in detail. Those stages are later used as chapters in the narrative. Richard’s new appearance and attitude give him an ironically renewed sense of confidence. But he also slips into a stage of hyper-aggressive behavior. His perfect algorithmic model that has made his company successful has begun to falter as the writings of the financial crisis are on the wall.
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I was waiting for the other shoe to drop with Richard in the third act. His character development tried to blend the best elements of a savant with Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. I just wanted to care more, and I never felt the urge to. The rest of the cast more or less played their parts pretty safe.
Lena eventually resurfaces after Richard makes many repeated courting attempts. Richard’s boss and co-workers are the slimy dreck we’re supposed to disapprove of. If Mosquito State is a commentary on the struggles of change and personal responsibility, it must not want the lesson to stick. I appreciate the metamorphosis Richard undertakes; I only wish it mattered.
Mosquito State is shot very well. The sprawling high-scale window shots of the New York skyline, peppered with glossy and lustrous streaks of orange and purple, are a feast for the eyes. The buzzing of the insects aside, the scoring matches the tone, giving integrity to the various stages of Richard’s not-too-subtle transformation. By the film’s closing scenes, however, when Richard meets the last development stage, The Imago, there isn’t much spark left in the story.
I wouldn’t call Mosquito State a conventional horror film, although it is set to stream on Shudder from August 26th. With one good rewrite, this film could be a contemporary corporate thriller. It has a veritable bite but draws little blood.
