Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(March 2009)
Directed (and written) by: James Mottern
Starring: Michelle Monaghan, Benjamin Bratt, Nathan Fillion, Joey Lauren Adams
Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, North Country) stars as Diane, an unlikely but sexy and, yes, "sassy," trucker who is paid by the mile and has been gathering no moss for a decade. With drinking friends like her neighbor, the jack-of-all-trades Runner (portrayed by Nathan Fillion - "Castle," Waitress), Diane's life was satisfactorily rolling down the road until a one-time lover is struck sick with the "big C" and her estranged eleven-year-old son gets dropped on her doorstep.
In a comfortable crawl, Diane is forced to face her unconventional family unit comprised of a kid who calls her "bitch" and a guy, Runner, who serves as her bar buddy but who longs and lusts for something more.
Bratt has been perfect in his independent choices lately, and, with this smaller role as Leonard, the boy's father with not long to live, Bratt delivers perfect pitch - not over-dramatizing the situation, not laboring under false breath, but softly delivering strength.
The camera work from Lawrence Sher is perfect, the naturally lit shots giving the film a cinematic serenity of which writer/director James Mottern should be particularly proud. A former Nicholls fellow for screenwriting, Mottern's script and helming hand allow the story to unfold with due respect to the real world, refusing to rush Diane's familial
rehabilitation.
It's the women of this film that give it its strength. Lauren Adams nails the scenes she's in, and Monaghan, whose Diane must hold the screen for almost the entire flick, molds the main character into all sorts of smoldering subtleties. Tough and believable, Monaghan's moments are real and relaxed and take Mottern's movie to another level.
This is a solid independent feature for which the best compliment is to ask the writer/director, "What can we look forward to next?" -MPM
Photos courtesy of Monterey Media.
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"Female Driven" from James Mottern, writer-director of "Trucker"