Tag: Jim Cummings

The Beta Test

Posted on by victorfraga

Jim Cummings made a big splash at SXSW three years ago with Thunder Road, where it won the Grand Jury prize. It became a huge sleeper hit in France. He has since made the werewolf comedy The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020). This third film, The Beta Test, is a very different kind of movie, although it falls into the same trap as his first two – all three end up feeling like acting class exercises.

Cummings stars in all his own films, and this is the first time where he has co-directed, being joined by PJ McCabe. It’s very much a post-#MeToo movie in which Cummings plays Hollywood agent Jordan, who is struggling to navigate the landscape of the film industry in the wake of the Weinstein scandal. Jordan hasn’t been the best-behaved person in the past, but he’s reining it in now to hang on to his job. He’s about to marry his fiancée Caroline (Virginia Newcomb), when one day he receives a purple envelope that gives him the opportunity to have an anonymous fling with someone. Once the card is filled out, he should find out where to go for this liaison. After that, his life starts to crumble around him – is it a conspiracy in the vein of Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)? In the process, he loses his identity.

It’s a film with what should be a very interesting concept, and has something to say (especially about people’s Internet lives, as it goes deeper into that than it does regarding relationships between men and women in Hollywood). There’s a good section exposing the conflict between writers and their agents, but the problem is that it doesn’t have enough of a bite. Cummings just seems like a nice guy, too well controlled to really be acidic about Hollywood.

Both of the films he has done since Thunder Road are much more ambitious in scope and theme. A quasi-psychological conspiracy thriller is a step forward in terms of complexity, but Cummings is still working on slim budgets, and that leaves him without the funds to realise his vision. Cummings has both ambition and talent. He needs to do a bigger film, and leave the self-indulgent scripts and his almost manic, David Byrne-like persona behind.

If you’re a Jim Cummings film, it’s a must. If you’re a newcomer to his work, it’s not going to win you over. For those in between, it could go either way. In any case, it’s an interesting experiment. Cumming deserves credit for making an interesting little thriller with next to no money. All in all, The Beta Test is collection of good individual scenes with long monologues without an engaging narrative arc.

The Beta Test premiered at Grimmfest. It is in cinemas on Friday, October 15th. On VoD on Friday, July 1st.

Thunder Road

Posted on by victorfraga

Why are public meltdowns so intriguing? There is something oddly satisfying about the complete breakdown of a social convention. It’s a cathartic primal scream signalling somebody is cracking and can no longer keep up appearances. It can be scarily unpredictable and pitiful to watch. However, there is also something defiantly liberating about it. It reveals that under the thin veneer of social norms, all humans who are struggling. Jim Cummings’s debut feature Thunder Road (he also pens and stars in the movie) captures the dual nature of such a breakdown. It’s a dramedy that will have you laughing and crying – often at the very same time.

Louisiana police officer Jim Arnaud (Cummings) is enduring the most difficult stage of his life. The film’s opening sequence sets the tone. At the funeral of his mother, Jim delivers a cringeworthy, heartbreaking and absurdly funny speech to a bewildered audience. His mental state begins to spiral out of control whilst he also grapples with a messy divorce and an estranged daughter. All the while, Jim continues to pretend that everything’s under control. He repeatedly tells his friend, “If you see me fighting an alligator, save the alligator”; it is unconvincing.

This is a very compelling character study, with Jim Cumming’s performance holding the film together. Despite the facade of the stoical police officer, his pain is entirely palpable. He allows moments of pain to flash across his face but never fully come to surface. The fact that these can be the film’s funniest moments, tells you a lot. Comedy and drama are amalgamated into one single beast, which sets a tone I’ve never felt before. It shouldn’t work but it does.

The film, however, does get a little repetitive at times. The narrative is rhythmically paced with similar fights and repressed emotions dotting the story. Yet, it adds up to the final conclusion: an incredibly satisfying and poignant gut-punch that will make you reach for your hankies.

Thunder Road is based on the eponymous short film (the basis for the opening scene), which wowed Sundance three years ago. You can watch the short film by clicking here. It is fascinating how Cummings developed a small idea in to a feature of such empathy and humour. Thunder Road is a superb tonal balancing act and it will make you question the lengths we go to keep our social veneer intact.

Thunder Road is in cinemas across the UK on Friday, May 31st. On VoD Friday, September 20th.