Devastated by the loss of his mother, Police Officer Jim Arnaud (Jim Cummings) struggles to keep ahold of everything that matters to him. This includes his job, his daughter and
Thunder Road is a very dark comedy. It tackles themes like suicide, depression, and neglect. Much of the humour comes from the character of Jim Arnaud who is very blunt and awkward in social situations. He is overly proud yet often incompetent. He is also good-natured but prone to fits of anger that are genuinely unsettling.
Occasionally the film risks being too cynical. It presents an over-simplified view of the world, in which ex-partners are evil, judges are cruel and men with anger issues are just misunderstood. The film is told entirely from our main characters point of view and what makes these cliches interesting is the constant complicity of Jim Arnaud in the difficulties of his situation. He’s unpredictable and very clearly experiencing severe mental health issues. Nobody knows how to react to him and it’s clear he is unable to help himself. This is a compelling and all too relatable dynamic.
There’s a visual creativity to the film. There are some very interesting scene transitions with match cuts that denote hidden layers of meaning. A pen being uncapped transitions to a jar being shut, the action leading from one to the other not revealed until the end of the scene. Similarly, a great deal of Jim Arnaud’s extraordinary performance is captured in painfully long takes, heightening the sense of awkwardness.
Thunder Road is a very painful but clearly very personal tale of grief. If it’s occasionally a little conventional, it’s not to the detriment of the film’s entertainment value and emotional worth. There’s something very relatable and perhaps important about this tale of a simple man coming to terms with the sadness in his heart.
Four Stars