Thunder Road: juntos en la tormenta

Saw this a Hell's Half Mile Film fest in Bay City, Michigan and Jim Cummings wrote, directed and gave a stunning lead performance in this festival gem, which I believe is his first full feature after bouncing around doing short films and a little TV work. He has the acting chops to pull off his own written vision of this unstable police officer who can slip from calm, deranged and sorrowful multiple times within one scene. Impressive for he must do this most if not all of this 90 minute film carrying off this complicated character through losing his mother, wife in divorce, his job and every thing he holds dear as he sinks into despair. I hope this propels his movie making skills to new wide release films in the future.

To be honest I never heard of Jim Cummings before, not as an actor nor as a writer, nor as a director, but after watching Thunder Road I will remember him in the future. This movie is a strange mixture of drama and comedy. You never completely know if it is sadness or laughter they were looking for and that's all credit to the excellent acting of Jim Cummings. I never saw a grown man crying so much in a movie and still be funny due to his facial expressions whilst crying. I truly enjoyed Thunder Road and I'm sure plenty of others will do also. An easy to watch story, with mixed emotions, but in the end better than I thought it would be.

I looked up this movie for one reason, only a day before I had watched Jocelyn DeBoer in "Greener Grass", the first I have seen of her, and was totally taken by how good she was in that one. So I naturally wondered how she would be in this one. It turns out her role as the estranged wife of officer Arnaud is not a very large one so she doesn't really stand out in this one.

"Thunder Road" is the brainchild of Jim Cummings who wrote, directed, and stars as Austin Texas police officer Jim Arnaud. As other reviewers have said the various scenes don't always connect into a broader story, the main feature is the bipolar nature of officer Arnaud. At times he will be calm and professional then some small thing will trigger him and he will become totally emotional and out of control. While this provides some interest by the end of the movie it has gotten old.

For me the best part of the movie was the character played by Kendal Farr, as the 9-yr-old daughter Crystal Arnaud. She is very cute and her acting is always spot on for the situation.

I found this to be an interesting take on mental illness but some of the extended screaming was hard to take, the "mute" button came in handy. I rate it as a mostly marginal movie, interesting to some but not to most general audiences.

I watched it streaming from Amazon via Roku.

Jim is a Texas police officer whose life is falling apart. His mother just died and his estranged wife plans to move away with their daughter. Though he pretends everything is fine, he has difficulties to cope with the situation, his unpredictable reactions making things worse. Alternating between tragedy and comedy, « Thunder road » explores human vulnerability and celebrates male sensitivity. The issue of toxic masculinity is implicitly addressed, the question being: how can you deal with your emotions if, as a man, you have always been told to repress them? Jim Cummings gives a strong performance. Despite overacting at times, he succeeds in making his character endearing. The most touching moments are the ones he spends with his daughter, trying his best to take care of her. This low budget movie is a good surprise. I enjoyed its quirky atmosphere. It is a rewarding experience until the end, the closing credits being visually and musically beautiful (with a moving violin and cello orchestration of « Skinny Love » by Vitamin String Quartet).

THUNDER ROAD begins at a funeral. Actor/director/writer Jim Cummings plays Officer Jim, a cop who comes to the front of the church to eulogize his mother. This scene is one of the most amazing and unexpected scenes I've ever watched. In a few minutes, Officer Jim veers wildy from moments of light humor while recollecting his mom, to unstoppable tears, to deeply inappropriate dancing to, frankly, a total, emotional breakdown unlike any you've seen. This guy just looses his cool, but in a way that feels unique and organic. He's all over the place, and we laugh and then we're just appalled for him. It feels real and specific and is very moving and yet uncomfortably laughable at the same time. I've not seen anything quite like it. (Apparently, this scene was originally a short film Cummings made and used to scrounge up enough funding to stretch this character's experiences into a feature film.)

The scene is probably the best thing in the movie, as we move out of the church and spend more time with Jim and, in particular, his young daughter. The girl's mother is a mess...Jim cares for her and is deeply angry at her at the same time. In fact, Jim is subject to fits of rage. He is clearly carrying around a lot of grief and confusion, and he doesn't really have an outlet or anyone to "talk to" about it. He's a proud man who doesn't want to admit he's hurting. His temper is sometimes comical and sometimes terrifying. He is, in short, a mess. But you've never seen a character quite like this or a mess quite like it either. Cummings, who is not necessarily the most gifted actor ever, has a quality about him that I've not really seen in another "star." We can laugh with him and at him, and be infuriated by him yet root for him deeply. His brand of "messed-up-ness" is singular and we feel like we're seeing a real person break down.

But, despite the mess that Jim has become, the result of the movie (and it's string of odd incidents) is a feeling of hope and uplift. Life is never going to be perfect, far from it...but perhaps Jim learns to appreciate the little joys and victories it brings. We suspect he'll always be a bit of a mess, but we also see that he might be pulling his act together at least a little.

The film will be off-putting to some. It's low budget, and that often shows. It swings wildly in tone, often within scenes. It's tough to describe the emotional impact (is it a comedy with some drama, or a drama with some comedy, or is it even a drama that doesn't realize how silly much of it is?). Cummings has made one other film (THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW) that also plays around with similar themes of anger and inchoate reaching for manly self-improvement. If you can manage it, I'd suggest a mini-film festival, with THUNDER ROAD first and then SNOW HOLLOW. While the film(s) are far from perfect, the best thing I can say is that I still can't wait to see what Cummings comes up with next. Unique!

(PS: If you have the blu ray, watch the extras about how the film was funded. Crazy stuff!)