Mosquito State

Mosquito State is a 2020 film that brings a unique blend of psychological horror and financial thriller to the screen, penned and directed by Polish filmmaker Filip Jan Rymsza. The film boasts an all-star cast that includes Beau Knapp, Charlotte Vega, and Jack Kesy. With its intricate plotline and evocative visuals, Mosquito State ends up somewhere between a Wall Street drama and a Kafka-esque nightmare.

Set against the backdrop of the 2007 Wall Street financial crisis, Mosquito State takes viewers into the lives of data-driven economic analysts. Beau Knapp helms the film as the protagonist, Richard Boca, an astute Wall Street data analyst. Credited for constructing a computer model that predicts market trends with uncanny accuracy, Richard lives a successful but lonely existence.

The film centers on Richards' life as he navigates a high-powered corporate world and an infestation of mosquitoes at his opulent, high-rise apartment. Charlotte Vega plays the role of Lena, a woman Richard meets at a swanky company gala. While seemingly out of place in Richard’s carefully coordinated life, Lena’s entrance leads both to a series of events and interactions that are symbolic and integral to the unfolding plot.

The title, Mosquito State, serves as a powerful metaphor, highlighting the incessant and bloodsucking nature of the world of high finance. It's a world where the parasitic habits of the insect parallels the exploitative behaviors of Wall Street tycoons - feeding off common man's investments and labor.

Marinated in a sense of eerie foreboding, the film brilliantly portrays Wall Street as a claustrophobic world that swarms with big powers, sucking the life source much like mosquitoes. But the movie pushes beyond metaphors. An infestation of mosquitoes at Richard’s apartment becomes an obsession, mirroring his internal psychological unrest and the impending financial meltdown.

Jack Kesy appears as Edward, Richard's sophisticated and suave superior, who is both dismissive and threatened by Richard's pivotal role at the company. The character dynamics of Edward and Richard's relationship add another layer of tension to the already fraught narrative.

Though classified as a horror film, Mosquito State ingeniously utilizes elements of the genre. Instead of resorting to gore or supernatural elements, it focuses on the creeping horror of a world ruled by data and numbers, where subjective interpretation and human emotions are estranged and devalued. There are elements of body horror, represented not by monstrous transformation but the disturbing physiological and psychological changes in Richard as he literally allows himself to be consumed by his mosquito "guests".

The film also offers viewers a visual feast with its stunning cinematography by Eric Koretz. Shots of the sprawling cityscape as seen through Richard’s high rise apartment contrast the stifling world of Wall Street with the unfathomable beauty, freedom, and natural infestation of the outside world. The effective use of lighting, color, and sound design further underscore the chilling atmosphere that pervades the film.

Backed by a haunting musical score by Cezary Skubiszewski, this film is an aesthetically substantive cinematic exploration that grips the viewer's attention even as the narrative oscillates between the mundane and the bizarre.

In an atypical horror film trajectory, Mosquito State eschews the common horror narrative tropes, in favor of an expertly paced psychological dissection of a man trapped within the failings of his own creation. It deeply investigates the theme of the hubris of man, his alienation, and self-destruction caused by a disconnected focus on cold, impersonal data over humanistic qualitative elements.

Beau Knapp’s compelling performance presents Richard as an unsettling character whose isolation, obsessive tendencies, and cognitive dissonance take viewers on an edgy, unnerving journey. The crux of Mosquito State lies in the viewer’s perspective, where they must decide between seeing it as an intricate character study of a disconnected anti-hero or as a condemnation of the exploitative world of high finance.

In Mosquito State, Filip Jan Rymsza creates an eerie, discomforting world that navigates through numerals and neurosis. This genre-defying movie is not a conventional horror flick but an expedition into the horror of obsession, alienation, and the dehumanizing effects of an increasingly data-driven world. It's a film that talks to the times, to past crises, and perhaps, to ones yet to come.