You’ve done it, certainly as a kid, just to see if it were
true. The lighting flashes and the
count begins, “one hip-po-pot-amus, two hip-po-pot-amus … five hip-po-pot-amus”
and then the thunder (wow, that was close, just one mile away).
This counting exercise between the lightning and thunder
serves as a wonderful metaphor for writer/director Phillip Irwin Cooper’s
award-winning film, Counting for Thunder.
First the lightning — that bright flash of light — as events in one’s
life reach a crossroads, and then follows the anticipation of what comes next …
the thunder!
Wolfe announce this past week that Counting for Thunder will
be making its DVD debut on May 2.
This autobiographical tale introduces us to Phillip
Stalworth (Cooper), a wannabe actor out in Hollywood, who is in a relationship
that’s going nowhere — as is his career — when he gets some bad news from back
home in Alabama. His mom (played by Mariette
Hartley) has stage four cancer … he packs it in and heads home. There’s your lightning.
Based on Cooper’s own experiences — a three-year stint back
home in Alabama during this particular family emergency — brings a certain
intimacy with the material. He speaks
directly to you (the audience) in his narrative, which really doesn’t break the
fourth wall, but it is close enough. You
are with him in spirits and it works … you can’t help but take a liking to him
as you join him on this life-altering journey back home.
Not only is Counting for Thunder blessed with a
marvelous script (real-life can be like), but the film boasts production values
well-beyond its 2014 Kickstarter.com origins.
In addition to Emmy-winner Mariette Hartley playing the role of his
mother, Cooper also landed John Heard as his father, Alison Elliott (The
Spitfire Grill, Birth and most recently in 20th
Century Women) as his sister and Peter Stebbings (K-19: The Widowmaker,
Re-Generation, and as Cardinal De Luca in The Borgias and as Alvin
in The
Listener television series) as an “old” acquaintance whose friendship
brings more “thunder” to his life.
Counting for Thunder is an excellent slice-of-life tale that is
well-worth discovering come May 2.
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