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Thunder Road(2018)
In 2016, an unknown filmmaker named Jim Cummings made a 13-minute live action short subject called Thunder Road which was about a police officer eulogizing his mother. Well, apparently someone was impressed because Cummings was given the green light to make a full length feature that springboards from the short subject, which was an award darling on the indie circuit.
This 2018 fiilm opens on the same character, Jim Arnaud, a separated, small town police officer with a daughter who is observed struggling to deliver a eulogy for his deceased mother. He wants to sing the Bruce Springsteen classic as a tribute to Mom because she loved Bruce but he can't get the tape player to work and the story continues to be a bold and unapologetic character study revolving around this Jim Arnaud, that actually makes the guy look a little bit crazy.
Cummings really strikes gold with this central character because I think we all know someone like Jim Arnaud...Jim is kind of gregarious and it's often hard to get in a word edgewise with him so instead of trying to have a real conversation with him, we just choose to stop listening whenever it becomes too much of a chore. I don't know how many times in this movie where we observe Jim talking to people and they just walk away from while he's still talking.
This film carefully dissects the mental shredding in Jim's brain as he loses his mom, followed by his job, and then he totally snaps when his wife wants a divorce, half his assets, and full custody of his daughter. The scenes where he is talking to the judge in the courtroom and in front of the police station are simultaneously amusing and heartbreaking. There are a lot of laughs provided here, but most of them are nervous ones and I'm not sure if they are all intentional.
Cummings' Jim Arnaud is a cinematic enigma who commands attention from the viewer that he doesn't really get from the people in his life. The whining Arnaud does in the funeral scene is effective there but its appeal wears out as the film progresses. As expected with an independent film, the production values are less than impressive...there is a minimal use of music here, but the story really doesn't need it. This is a film where lack of cinematic gloss just adds to the power of the piece. Cummings is definitely a filmmaker to watch.
In 2016, an unknown filmmaker named Jim Cummings made a 13-minute live action short subject called Thunder Road which was about a police officer eulogizing his mother. Well, apparently someone was impressed because Cummings was given the green light to make a full length feature that springboards from the short subject, which was an award darling on the indie circuit.
This 2018 fiilm opens on the same character, Jim Arnaud, a separated, small town police officer with a daughter who is observed struggling to deliver a eulogy for his deceased mother. He wants to sing the Bruce Springsteen classic as a tribute to Mom because she loved Bruce but he can't get the tape player to work and the story continues to be a bold and unapologetic character study revolving around this Jim Arnaud, that actually makes the guy look a little bit crazy.
Cummings really strikes gold with this central character because I think we all know someone like Jim Arnaud...Jim is kind of gregarious and it's often hard to get in a word edgewise with him so instead of trying to have a real conversation with him, we just choose to stop listening whenever it becomes too much of a chore. I don't know how many times in this movie where we observe Jim talking to people and they just walk away from while he's still talking.
This film carefully dissects the mental shredding in Jim's brain as he loses his mom, followed by his job, and then he totally snaps when his wife wants a divorce, half his assets, and full custody of his daughter. The scenes where he is talking to the judge in the courtroom and in front of the police station are simultaneously amusing and heartbreaking. There are a lot of laughs provided here, but most of them are nervous ones and I'm not sure if they are all intentional.
Cummings' Jim Arnaud is a cinematic enigma who commands attention from the viewer that he doesn't really get from the people in his life. The whining Arnaud does in the funeral scene is effective there but its appeal wears out as the film progresses. As expected with an independent film, the production values are less than impressive...there is a minimal use of music here, but the story really doesn't need it. This is a film where lack of cinematic gloss just adds to the power of the piece. Cummings is definitely a filmmaker to watch.