Public speaking is hard for a lot of people, especially when they’re doing it off the top of their head, and especially when it’s at a funeral.
That’s all on full display in this short film titled Thunder Road. As the funeral director says towards the end of this short, “It’s important to remember that everyone mourns in their own way.” That might be an understatement.
Thunder Road, written, directed and starring Jim Cummings won the Short Film Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016. Deservedly so.
Shot all in one take, Thunder Road makes you feel as if you are sitting in the pews at a funeral. Someone gets up to speak. They say things that make you laugh unintentionally. They have a hard time going on because of the loss and regrets they are feeling.
And of course there is the dear departeds favorite song that gets played, in this case Bruce Springsteen’s Thunder Road.
There is something real and sweet to Thunder Road. That’s what keeps it from being absurd. It’s also what makes it such a good little story.
Jim Cummings deserves the major props he’s received for this incredible little film.
What did you think of Thunder Road? Did you get as much out of it as I did?
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