![\"trucker\"](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/trucker.jpg\" "\\"trucker\\"")
<\/a> Regular filmgoers are likely to remember Michelle Monaghan for her supporting work in \u201cKiss Kiss, Bang Bang,\u201d \u201cNorth County\u201d and \u201cGone Baby Gone.\u201d If the actress stirred up one everlasting impression it\u2019s this: she was the one that caused you to point at the screen and say, \u201cIsn\u2019t that Liv Tyler\u2019s sister?\u201d<\/p>\n\u201cTrucker\u201d is about to shatter all previous perceptions.<\/p>\n
Set in remote corners of California and focused on characters that are anything but cosmopolitan, \u201cTrucker\u201d is reminiscent of 70s \u201cslice of life\u201d character studies like \u201cFive Easy Pieces\u201d and \u201cAlice Doesn\u2019t Live Here Anymore.\u201d Monaghan plays Diane Ford, a hard driving, hard living transporter accountable only to herself and eager to avoid commitment at any and all costs. She is equally at home in a flat bed as she is in cheap motel rooms where she whiles away many an off hour with strays she picks up in the desolate watering holes that dot her route.<\/p>\n
Diane fought hard to establish her freedom and at one point confesses shock that she\u2019s actually been anchored to same house for six years. Her foundation will soon be rocked when trouble arrives on her doorstep in the form of her 11-year-old son Peter (Jimmy Bennett), whom she abandoned when he was an infant.<\/p>\n
Peter\u2019s favorite appellation for his mom is \u201cbitch\u201d and all things considered, the kid is being kind. As her ex-husband Leonard (Benjamin Bratt) lies dying in a cancer ward, Diane is called into action to watch the boy for three weeks. With no uncertainty in her voice, Diane makes it clear that she wants nothing to do with a kid whose memory has long since been buried in the inner recesses of her soul.<\/p>\n
A mother reunited with an estranged stripling and a hubby rapidly succumbing to cancer? Isn\u2019t this material better suited for a Lifetime Channel teledrama? There is no such thing as a bad story, only ineffectual storytellers, and first time writer\/director James Mottern does a commendable job of sidestepping clich\u00e9s in favor strong human emotion and impeccable visual storytelling.<\/p>\n
Given the material, many a freshman helmer would have been unable to resist the urge to film everything in close-ups in order to wring each bit of feeling from their actors\u2019 faces. Mottern recognizes the varying degrees of distance between his characters and artfully keeps his lens at a safe distance. His straight-on framing and sparse anamorphic compositions frequently say more about his characters and their interpersonal relationships than any page of dialogue could ever get across.<\/p>\n
The performances are uniformly accomplished. Nathan Fillion plays Diane\u2019s next door neighbor, regular drinking partner and the best man in the picture for her. Subsequently he\u2019s one of the few guys she refuses to sleep with. Whether he\u2019s unsuccessfully squelching his feelings for Diane or playing surrogate father to Peter, Fillion brings a tremendous degree of grace and quiet dignity to his character.<\/p>\n
The kid is terrific in a very demanding role. Never cute or cloying, Jimmy Bennett finds just the right amounts of anger, confusion and a desperation to belong and be loved that will break your heart. A scene where Leonard says goodbye to his son found me reaching for a bath towel to blot away the tears.<\/p>\n
Unless Diane is snorting coke to help the white lines of the road fly faster (a big rig stereotype that\u2019s wisely avoided), Monaghan\u2019s reedy frame doesn\u2019t appear to be the right chassis to play a freighter. Emotionally and professionally (she also served as executive producer) she\u2019s in it for the long haul. This is a star-making turn that sadly won\u2019t be seen by many due to its limited distribution pattern. Let\u2019s hope that Monterey Media sends out enough screeners come awards time so that her performance will not go unnoticed.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrucker\u201d opens October 9th exclusively at Reading\u2019s Gaslamp 15.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Trucker Written and directed by James Mottern Starring: Michelle Monaghan, Nathan Fillion, Jimmy Bennett, Nathan Fillion and Benjamin Bratt Rating: 3.5 out of 5 By Scott Marks Regular filmgoers are likely to remember Michelle Monaghan for her supporting work in \u201cKiss Kiss, Bang Bang,\u201d \u201cNorth County\u201d and \u201cGone Baby Gone.\u201d If the actress stirred up […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":242950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Scott Marks: Trucker Goes Extra Mile","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}