Thunder and Lightning

On MoLT the other day, I commented that making Hoop Dreams took real courage. Filming for five years two inner city kids seems awful risky. That's a huge investment - time and money, including the opportunity cost - and no real way of knowing how it'll turn out. Had it not turned out, we would all be ignorant of the attempt, but those close to the filmmaker would've shook their heads saying, "Told you so." Ebert reviews another similar kind of documentary experiment, and says basically the same exact thing.

This kind of film, like "Hoop Dreams," is only possible when a filmmaker stakes a bet on an unknown outcome. I won't tell you how it ends, except that Eddie Vedder does something out of the blue that is simply astonishing, and shows genuine class. Stars do nice things for people all the time, but this is something that shows thoughtfulness and insight, and with no expectation that the world would ever hear about it.

I'm very intrigued to see this film. When it comes out on DVD, I will. It's about a couple act called "Lighting and Thunder" or "Thunder and Lightning" (not sure which) who did Neil Diamond covers for decades. It seems to be a story about dreams, ambition, commitment - stories I never grow tired of.

This review also piqued my interest. Apparently the movie doesn't have a distributor, though it won the major awards at Slamdance and other film festivals. This last part about Eddie Vedder really has me curious.

Now as pathetic as all this may sound, we haven't even scratched the surface of pathetic in this movie. In fact, the pathos gets so thick, it almost becomes a redemptive experience. You think your life sucks? Try Lightning and Thunder's on for size. For instance, not long after their Eddie Vedder triumph, Claire is out gardening in her front lawn when an old lady mistakes the gas pedal for the brake and careens right into her, before smashing into their front room window. Claire is rushed to the hospital where doctors have no choice but to amputate one of her legs.

The pain stays with Claire long after she leaves the hospital, so she's put on heavy medication. And that medication, along with her increasing inactivity, leads to significant weight gain. It slowly becomes apparent that nobody wants to see a Lightning and Thunder show with a heavy-set, one-legged Thunder in a wheelchair. Even with a prosthetic leg, Thunder can't seem to win back her fans.

And as Thunder gets more and more depressed, her two teenage kids get nastier and nastier. Some of the screaming and hitting jags between Claire and her kids are extremely uncomfortable to watch. Even on Christmas morning around the tree, a family fight breaks out and someone screams "Christmas sucks!" Their home life slowly begins to resemble an early John Waters film.

To make matters worse, the 17 year old daughter announces she's pregnant, Claire accuses Mike of cheating on her since she's only got one leg, and finally, as Mike makes plans to meet his idol (Diamond's in town for a concert), he has a near-fatal heart attack and winds up with quintuple bypass surgery. And just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, they do. Song Sung Blue, indeed. Even Job would feel sorry for these people.

In the end, Eddie Vedder comes through like a prince, with a generous gift and more importantly a heartfelt recognition of musical troupers like Mike and Claire Sardina, AKA Lightning and Thunder.