"Who dances at a fucking funeral?"
Thunder Road is an independent 2018 dramedy film written, directed by, and starring Jim Cummings. (He also co-edited, composed, and worked on the visual effects for the film.)
Largely dialogue-driven, the film follows police officer Jim Arnaud (Cummings) in the days after his mother's funeral as he begins letting his grief interfere with his job, personal relationships, and a custody battle for his daughter amid a difficult divorce with his unfaithful wife.
The film was based on on Cummings' 2016 short film of the same name
; both films get their title from Bruce Springsteen's song from Born to Run. The films also won similar awards at the festivals in which they premiered; the short won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, and the feature won the Grand Jury Award of the 2018 SXSW Film Festival.
Not to be confused with the 1958 Robert Mitchum film that Springsteen titled his song after.
Tropes displayed by Thunder Road:
- Apologises a Lot: In the midst of emotional breakdowns, Arnaud tends to do rude or insulting things and then immediately apologize for them.
- Artifact Title: Unlike the short film, the song "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen is never heard, being only vaguely mentioned. Cummings decided to omit it, feeling it made the opening scene more humiliating.
- Beat: When Arnaud tells a self-deprecating joke to minimize some embarrassment, his daughter's teacher just stares blankly at him for an awkward moment before the conversation resumes.
- Book Dumb: Arnaud has enough intelligence to be a cop, but he's not very educated. He admits that he got poor grades, disparages the university he attended and doesn't know what the word "strident" means. His dyslexia is likely part of the problem.
- Book Ends: The film opens with Arnaud crying at his mother's funeral. It ends with him crying at a ballet performance, only this time they're Tears of Joy.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Arnaud tells his daughter to stop hanging out with a boy at school, whom he suspects is a "slicker." He's clearly worried that she'll wind up like the 16-year-old he caught in a car with two "slickers." This is in spite of the fact that his daughter is just starting fourth grade.
- Bumbling Dad: Played with a mixture of comedy and drama, as a lot of direct exchanges between Arnaud and his daughter are humorous, but really do contribute to his increasing desperation.
- Chewing the Scenery: Jim Cummings really lets loose as Arnaud. A lot of his delivery is just so over-the-top, but it works with the movie's tone.
- Cringe Comedy: Most of the comedy comes from some creative dialogue in Arnaud's most desperate moments. It's certainly entertaining... but maybe not unflinchingly.
- Determinator: Arnaud's mother would soldier through everything without letting anyone know about it, which ultimately caused her untimely death when she let an injury go untreated too long.
- Disappeared Dad: Arnaud and his siblings were raised by a single mother. During a very emotional scene, Arnaud reveals that he learned his mother had a boyfriend, who died in the Vietnam War — but he only learned this after she had passed, and was never able to ask about him.
- Happily Married: Subverted. Arnaud accuses Nate of not being able to relate to his situation because he and his wife are in a good relationship. It's not expanded on much, but Nate assures him they have their problems.
- Heroic BSoD: Arnaud has many, including the very first scene of the movie at his mother's funeral.
- It Runs in the Family: Jim and his sister share extremely similar mannerisms. They tell stories the same way, often dwelling on details and saying things that make sense in their own heads. However, when Jim does this to other people and they get annoyed or confused with him, he and his sister are on the same wavelength as each other and they talk out the stresses of their mothers passing in the healthiest way that he's talked to just about anyone in the film. They have a genuinely strong relationship and it's clear in how they get along.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Arnaud weeps openly and messily on quite a few occasions, most notably in the opening scene.
- Manchild: His grieving state amplifies it, but Arnaud definitely qualifies.
- Momma's Boy: Arnaud was one to a T.
- The Oner: Many scenes, particularly those of Arnaud breaking down, are filmed in one long, continuous shot, the most notable being the opening scene at the funeral.
- Prone to Tears: Officer Arnaud could break down crying in any scene.
- Riddle for the Ages:
- Arnaud puts something in a water cup outside his sister's house. It might be their mother's earrings, but we never see it.
- Was Chris involved in Rosalind's death? How did it come about?
- Rule of Funny: A darkly hilarious moment has Crystal's teacher slip a pair of scissors out of Arnaud's reach after he has an emotional outburst. Sharp-pointed scissors wouldn't be in a fourth-grade classroom, and there's no reason for them to be on the desk in this situation, but it makes the joke work.
- Shout-Out: To the titular Bruce Springsteen song, of course.
- Talking to the Dead:
- Arnaud opens up to his mother's grave, though he initially thinks the exercise is stupid.
- He also tells his freshly deceased ex-wife that he'll never forgive her for dying on their daughter. Unlike most examples, this is done at the scene where she's found and not a grave.
- Tears of Joy: Jim Arnaud sheds some in the very last scene when he sees his daughter entranced at a ballet performance.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The movie's teaser was literally just an excerpt from Arnaud's breakdown outside the police station in response to getting fired.
- The Unfavorite: Arnaud's sister complains that their mother loved him more than her, to the point that she gave him her hand-me-down earrings even though he's a man.
