I noticed some content online talking about Roofman, and it definitely interested me. Funny enough, after mild googling, it turns out the director and writer of the movie is Derek Cianfrance. He happened to also write and direct The Place Beyond the Pines which is one of my favorite movies EVER! So my mild interest quickly grew into serious inerest. After watching Roofman I may simply be a Derek Cianfrance fan. I'll have to watch his other work! He actually doesn't have a super rich history of movies at this point in time. He's not super old or anything at 52, so I imagine he's still got a lot left to produce if he so chooses. He created The Place Beyond the Pines at the age of just 38! He seems to take several years between projects, and I guess he was involved in a miniseries but yeah in general I suppose the guy is just methodical and again, he's not super old as it is. Who knows.
Anyway, Roofman is labeled as a sort of crime/drama/comedy flm but in my opinion describing this as a comedy is a bit of a stretch. There are momentary comedic scenes splashed in, and Channing Tatum's character as Jeffrey Manchester is sort of silly at times but I don't know, there wasn't like a genuine sense of funny in this film. As I said, there were splashes of mild relaxation and comedy relief but nothing crazy. There was one particularly funny part when Manchester was caught nude by Peter Dinklage's character Mitch but that was perhaps the one true funny part I can recall quickly.
I don't bring this comedy label topic up as a bad thing, but the comedy that did exist in this was natural and honestly, just realistic. For the most part, there was no switch off and on from comedy to drama, it sort of flowed smoothly. It's actually a compliment to the film frankly. I mean, real life has funny moments, the funny moments in this movie just felt authentic, but not necessarily what I'd consider a genuine attempt at like making anyone die of laughter.
I suppose it's a definition/opinion thing. When the movie ended I didn't really feel as if this was a funny movie. It did have nice, distinct charm though.
While I have only seen one other Derek Cianfrance film in The Place Beyond the Pines, it's a film I really love and have seen several times. So it's pretty cool to notice his style remain, while being original to this new film.
Roofman is a film that feels like it just bear hugged a chunk of real life, and put it into a film. Well, for the most part. Committing crimes like this and at this scale and doing what Jeffrey Manchester did isn't exactly relatable but that's the entertainment part I guess LOL.
Manchester is basically a one of a kind dude that sorta takes things to the extreme. He's like 50/50 a serious/silly person. Again, he takes these traits to the extreme so it's just very interesting.
There are relatable aspects to Manchester of course, and I really felt for him. He struggled to live a normal everyday life. He wanted the best for his children. He has a good heart in my opinion, but he was just too desperate, ambitious, and well, reckless.
He seemed to simply want a regular wholesome life at the end of the day. Which is heartbreaking.
The Place Beyond the Pines is, in my opinion, a better movie, but it can be quite serious and stressful. If The Place Beyond the Pines is a 10 on the drama scale, Roofman is around a 7.5.
Roofman has a lot of genuine wholesome moments, genuinely pleasant romance, and feels less angry than The Place Beyond the Pines. Also, Roofman does have its comedic qualities. Additionally, I kind of like how it depicts Christmas which is random to bring up perhaps. I was a child in this film's time period (2004), and the vibes/decor/setting really reminded me of that time period. Ugh.
I appreciate how well both films depict romance. It's incredibly realistic. Eva Mendes (from The Place Beyond the Pines) and Kirsten Dunst in Roofman both play incredibly likeable female love interests. I'm usually very reluctant to enjoy romance in entertainment, I don't know why exactly, that's just a me thing LOL. But the casting of Dunst was great, and frankly Dunst surprised me with how well she acted in this film.
Again, like The Place Beyond the Pines, Roofman takes place in a relatively recent history which I find just, AWESOME. I mean, twenty years is that sweet spot where, suff feels fairly recent, but also it feels like a lifetime ago kinda. Trippy. It just adds a sweet injection of nostalgia in an already awesome film. Seeing Toys "R" Us and Blockbuster and just the various early 2000's decor/tech was really fun.
It's hard to pick the most intense parts for me in this one, because a lot went down in these two hours. I think towards the end when Manchester is staring at Leigh (Dunst) while she's singing at church, and he's just emotional and stoic and serious, that was really tough. The sense of dread, the sense of having to abandon her and this new family was really heavy. He lost one family, and is about to lose another, no matter what he does. Just brutal.
Then at the very end when Leigh visits Manchester in jail. That was just incredibly profound. The way Leigh says she's thankful and that it was an adventure and that they had good times in those six months or so, was just insane. I mean bro... 😭💔
I REALLY don't like to let movies make me tear up or even cry, but I surely did tear up. Like, the fact that I teared up while kinda intentionally trying to not let the movie get to me, says a lot.
'Roofman' was just so well rounded. I really appreciated it. It had a strong, effortless mix of everything except maybe horror LOL.
I noticed some cool similarities in this one as with The Place Beyond the Pines. They had similar supporting actors, they had similar bold looking sunglasses, and a family photo that resembled The Place Beyond the Pines. The film style was similar as well, the soundtrack felt similar and I loved it all.
While this is a bit heavy still, Roofman is probably more rewatchable than The Place Beyond the Pines. Both films have outstanding atmospheres and personality.
Man, this was so good. Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst surprised me as well. Clever casting for sure!
I think it's a must now, for me to watch Derek Cianfrance's other films. Blue Valentine and The Light Between Oceans. They appear to be romantic films which, isn't necessarily the same genre as these two films I discussed here, so I'll try to recalibrate my expectations. I really am HIGHLY reluctant to watch much romance but, maybe I should step out of my comfort zone, and Cianfrance has my attention if that makes sense LOL. I'm unsure if I'll make a blog about those because, well, I'm not really a lovey-dovey type of person but eh, we shall see. I simply don't understand love, or necessarily believe in it that much these days. I feel as though Hollywood has brainwashed us all into a false understanding of what love is. Ya only live once though, I might throw my two cents into the interwebs if/when I watch those.
