A Simple Machine

From Director/Writer Mark Alan Hoffman, and staring Richard Blackmon in a breakout lead role, the new independent feature film A SIMPLE MACHINE is a coming-of-age story following Nick Allander, a recent college grad trying to figure out his life’s direction during the late stages of the pandemic. It is shot in luminous black and white, in Portland, Oregon by the award-winning cinematographer Kevin Fletcher with an original score by Mark Orton.

Nick Allander is a thoughtful, but indecisive, young man with a marketing job, a serious relationship, and a problem... he’s drowning in debt. Just when he and his partner, Marie, are about to take the next step in their relationship, Nick’s mother, a hoarder in poor health, suddenly passes, prompting him to snap. Unsure of what he wants in life, Nick commits to a minimalist strategy of extreme frugality without telling Marie what he’s up to.

He abandons his career, leaves his apartment, and sells his car and all possessions to secretly squat in the garage of his mother’s foreclosed home. After taking advice from a bike mechanic who lives out of a tent, Nick fixes up an old ten-speed using Goodwill parts and tools. Freed from costs and expectations, he discovers a sense of purpose and self-reliance as he commutes around town in search of a new job. But Nick’s erratic behavior
sets off suspicions for Marie, prompting him to double down on a scheme to win her back.

While well-intentioned, Nick’s plans eventually backfire, forcing him to choose between committing to the woman he loves or devoting himself to a simpler existence.

A SIMPLE MACHINE is a deeply human and timely story about personal freedom and the cost of wanting less in a culture built on more. At a time of economic crisis, housing instability, and digital saturation it offers something rare: a grounded, thoughtful counterpoint rooted in the deliberate choice towards simplicity and financial freedom.