“ROSWELL DELIRIUM” turns back the clock and revisits the 1980s from the perspective of a young woman who believes she has contacted aliens who can help cure the aftereffects of nuclear disaster. Set in an alternate timeline where the US and USSR exchanged nuclear attacks in 1986, this fantasy-drama from writer-director Richard Bakewell features a cast of 1980s icons (Anthony Michael Hall, Lisa Whelchel, Dee Wallace, Reginald VelJohnson, and Sam Jones) alongside three commanding newcomers in a story that evokes the emotional richness of “Terms of Endearment” alongside the haunting suspense of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Mayday Malone (played with astonishing precocity by newcomer Kylee Levien) is in high school when the two global superpowers launch a series of nuclear attacks against each other. Living in rural New Mexico, her community is spared immediate destruction, but for years afterwards, people continue to die of diseases caused by nuclear radiation. With her emotionally distant father working for NASA and frequently away, Mayday channels her scientific curiosity and spare time into monitoring government satellite communication, while her mother (Arielle Bodenhausen) tries to keep things together. From the perspective of years later, an older Mayday – now known as Firefly (played by Ashton Solecki) is facing her own mortality from disease, but believes she has found a cure in the site formerly known as Area 51, and is working through her thoughts with a therapist (Anthony Michael Hall). As the story moves between the journeys of both Mayday and Firefly, the truth about what happened to them – and what happened to the world around them – emerges in startling and unimagined ways.
Writer-director Richard Bakewell, a veteran cinematographer and television camera operator who has worked with major media figures (Gordon Ramsay, Oprah Winfrey) and on noted television docuseries (“Cops,” “Last Chance U,” “Cheer”), forged the story of “Roswell Delirium” as a response to both his own journey back from PTSD and the global response to the 2020 pandemic. The result is a rich, complex story that evokes a new perspective on the 1980s by plumbing the emotional depths of a strong heroic young woman driven by the dogged pursuit of the truth, even in the face of her own destruction.
Bakewell is available to share his reflection on the film, his collaboration with a cast filled with 1980s legends eager to contribute to a unique and powerful story, and the importance of understanding the connections between personal trauma, cultural history, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to make sense of a sometimes violent and cruel world.
