Too Opinionated Interview: Richard Bakewell

What if the past you remember didn’t really happen? That’s the simple premise of filmmaker Richard Bakewell’s character-driven, science fiction drama, ROSWELL DELIRIUM, which centers around a young woman who survives nuclear disaster and alien encounters, only to slowly discover that the events she remembers are distorted by her traumatic experiences. The result is a powerful and compelling blend of genres, set against the backdrop of an alternate history of the 1980s.

In “Roswell Delirium” (written, directed, and produced by Bakewell), we witness some of the key events in the life of the young heroine, Mayday “Firefly” Malone (winningly played by Kylee Levien as teenaged Mayday, and Ashton Solecki as the grown-up version). Living in New Mexico in the 1980s, with her emotionally distant father employed by NASA and not always home, Mayday is obsessed with ham radio and satellite communications. But in 1986, the US and USSR devolve into nuclear war: rural areas are unscathed but the resulting years of radiation poisoning mean a new existence where sudden illness, death, and decay become a way of life. Moving between an older, radiation-sick Firefly as she puts her belief into the healing powers of the “Space Rock” at Area 51, and the younger Mayday as the events of the world spin out of control, the film sees the events of this alt-history through the eyes of a smart, determined young woman who slowly comes to realize that all is not as she remembers.

With a supporting cast that includes Anthony Michael Hall, Lisa Whelchel, Dee Wallace, Sam Jones, and Reginald VelJohnson, the film evokes it’s alternate-1980s setting with loving precision and eye for detail.

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