Officer Jim Arnaud is having a rough time. He's recently divorced from his wife. His young daughter doesn't want to spend time with him and his beloved mother has just passed away. All this stress comes to a head as he speaks at her funeral. He attempts a touching, yet poorly thought out, tribute to her and ends up breaking down in the middle of it in what becomes a cringe-inducing spectacle before dozens of people. Before long, the entire town seems to have heard about the scene and Officer Arnaud's life begins to unravel even further.
This is the set up for the indie comedy/drama THUNDER ROAD from writer/director/actor Jim Cummings. THUNDER ROAD is a jaw-dropping feature-length debut for Cummings. He juggles all of the tasks of being the main creative force behind the film and he turns in an honestly captivating performance in the lead role. There are several moments in the film where no one is on screen but him and the camera is still while he monologues. It gives the film, at times the feeling of a stage play and surprisingly it works. When it first happened, I thought the film would be an exercise in vanity for Cummings but every time he made it work to where these scenes become the most memorable parts of THUNDER ROAD.
There are many ways that the film could have fallen apart. For example, Cummings' Officer Arnaud could easily have become a caricature. He consistently says the wrong things at the wrong time. There is a scene near the middle of the film where he has a meeting with his daughter's teacher, played by indie stalwart Macon Blair (GREEN ROOM), that is so uncomfortable it had me wincing in my theater chair as Arnaud kept unintentionally making himself look more and more unstable. It's the kind of scene that a lesser actor would play too dumb or mean spirited and turn the audience against them but Cummings continually finds the decent and achingly human center of the character and makes the viewer root for him at every turn.
THUNDER ROAD is mostly a showcase for Cummings' writing and acting but he wisely filled the main supporting roles with equally talented actors like Nican Robinson, who plays Arnaud's police partner and one of the only people who stick with him through his downward spiral, Nate. They share a lengthy scene near the end of the film where Nate spends the day trying to lift Arnaud's spirits that is a touching example of simple gestures of friendship in troubled times that you don't see very much in films. It's not melodramatic or overwrought. It goes for subtlety when lesser films would go much broader and Robinson is excellent in it and throughout the rest of the film.
Another actor in the film that deserves mention is young Kendal Farr, who plays Arnaud's daughter Crystal. She is extremely naturalistic in her scenes and never feels anything less than authentic. Her scenes with Cummings appear sporadically throughout the film but she leaves a very strong impression despite her limited screen time.
THUNDER ROAD is in a lot of ways a typical indie film - it's a small scale story about people struggling with misfortune. Where it separates itself though is in the absolutely stellar execution of all aspects of the production. It is one of the year's very best films and serves as the perfect calling card for an exciting, fresh filmmaker in Jim Cummings.
- Matthew Essary
(aka "Wheels")
