Thunder Road. (15.)
Directed by Jim Cummings.
Starring Jim Cummings, Kendal Farr, Nican Robinson, Jocelyn DeBoer, Chelsea Edmundson, Macon Blair, Ammie Masterson. 90 mins
Woe, woe, woe, Thunder Road, as The Boss once said it, and there is plenty of woes to go around in this (sort of) comedy-drama. Cummings is a cop on the edge, as all movie cop protagonists are, but this small town cop is struggling with bereavement and a custody battle with ex-wife over daughter Crystal (Farr.)
The closing credits say that the film was Written, Directed and Performed by Jim Cummings and it definitely has the feel of a one-man show. It opens with a bravura 10 minute shot of Cummings in uniform, looking very Super Trooper, making a hash of giving a eulogy at his mother's funeral. It's a startling monologue, heartbreaking and hilarious, and it raises expectations for what will follow but the rest of the film is really just variations on that, long dialogue scenes and speeches in which he'll zip back and forth between hysterics and rationalisation, tears and self-help speak. Ultimately it's more actor's showreel than a drama.
The film is expanded from Cumming's 2016 short film of the same name which is basically a slightly different, but noticeably superior version of the opening scene.
Directed by Jim Cummings.
Starring Jim Cummings, Kendal Farr, Nican Robinson, Jocelyn DeBoer, Chelsea Edmundson, Macon Blair, Ammie Masterson. 90 mins
Woe, woe, woe, Thunder Road, as The Boss once said it, and there is plenty of woes to go around in this (sort of) comedy-drama. Cummings is a cop on the edge, as all movie cop protagonists are, but this small town cop is struggling with bereavement and a custody battle with ex-wife over daughter Crystal (Farr.)
The closing credits say that the film was Written, Directed and Performed by Jim Cummings and it definitely has the feel of a one-man show. It opens with a bravura 10 minute shot of Cummings in uniform, looking very Super Trooper, making a hash of giving a eulogy at his mother's funeral. It's a startling monologue, heartbreaking and hilarious, and it raises expectations for what will follow but the rest of the film is really just variations on that, long dialogue scenes and speeches in which he'll zip back and forth between hysterics and rationalisation, tears and self-help speak. Ultimately it's more actor's showreel than a drama.
The film is expanded from Cumming's 2016 short film of the same name which is basically a slightly different, but noticeably superior version of the opening scene.
