Trucker

So I had this movie on my Netflix queue forever and after finding some coveted free time, was finally able to sit down and watch it. It's a little indie film about a woman big rig driver and it's won plenty of awards. It's also the directorial debut for James Mottern, who also wrote the script. I was sold. It only opened in a modest 13 theaters early last year and made about $55,000.00. 

The film follows a young female big rig truck driver, played by Michelle Monaghan. She's a tough hard working woman who suddenly must bring her 11 year old son back into her life which she left with her ex-husband some ten years prior. 

What attracted me to the film was first the plot. It was refreshing and a unique take on normal feminist roles. I think it's hard given the nature of the plot to not have any stereotyping in the movie and I'll admit there is some. There's some cliches that popped up here in there through the course of the movie, but nothing that detracted much from the genuine-ness. We're dealing with a rough grungy mother who's abandoned  her only son for ten years with little-to-no contact. There isn't some big scene where she realizes the error of her ways and breaks down with a revelation, thank goodness. The characters were well written and borderline complex. Especially the kid. His character had great dynamics with each of the parental figures in his life. Monaghan's character was fragile and tough at the same time, but not unbelievably so. The dialogue was a little bit bland and predictable, but it wasn't too bad. 

The shots in the movie were beautiful. There were some great wide landscape shots with great color in them. There was also a particularly awesome moving shot which went along with Monaghan's character while she was driving the rig and then panned backwards while rolling to show that she was really driving the rig herself. It was beautiful. They could've easily got a shot of her 'driving' while being pulled  on a trailer and cut to a shot from behind to 'show' she was driving, but they did it the hard way and the result was much better. I'm obviously a big fan of those shots that don't take the easy way out. 

This was definitely a make or break role for Monaghan and she had her work cut out for her. It's hard to imagine such a beautiful and personable actress becoming this raw foul-mouthed truck driver and somehow pull of a vulnerability as well. Somehow she did it. In the beginning of the film, it feels a bit shaky but you can't take your eyes off her. By the end, she was the character. Throughout, she seemed genuine - more or less. She did a good job. The kid was excellent. Very precocious. Nathan Fillion really seems to be typecast as the go to guy for the good looking male part. He did a nice job, as he always does. Bejamin Bratt was unnecessary in the movie, aside from one emotional scene with the kid. His role was vital and had enough time dedicated to him, I think they could've gone with a no-name actor just as easily though. 

Overall, this became one of those movies that just sticks with you. I ended up watching it a second time to see what I had missed the first. It was a low key different movie. Yes, it pulls at your heart strings but it feels genuine most of the time. There's bits and pieces of stereotypes and cliche's thrown in there but it doesn't ruin the movie like you'd expect. This was a nicely made movie and very impressive for a directorial debut. "there's only a couple of reasons to get a hotel room on the road and this ain't one of them" -- Trucker.