October 5, 2023
FILM: THE STORMS OF JEREMY THOMAS
DIRECTED BY: MARK COUSINS
STARRING: JEREMY THOMAS, DEBRA WINGER, TILDA SWINTON
RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
I’m always fascinated by the process of filmmaking and film careers. I get on my kicks whereby I will watch a retrospective of a directors’ works over the course of several days such as Francois Truffaut, Woody Allen, and more recently, Billy Wilder. So, when I was given the opportunity to view The Storms of Jeremy Thomas I was intrigued. Here is a producer I knew next to nothing about even after a graduate program at the University of Chicago and over 25 years of experience teaching film courses. The most noteworthy film Thomas produced, and won an Oscar for, was 1987’s The Last Emperor which is one of the very few Best Picture winners I have never seen. Approaching Mark Cousins’s documentary about the producer meant exploring a whole new world of this person’s film work. I’m not sure how many other film fans would choose to go down this rabbit hole though. The issue isn’t Thomas, it’s that his work is a bit elusive to general audiences and sadly underseen by many of the rest of us.
The framing for this film is a journey Cousins takes with Thomas en route to the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. They spend several days driving together and then another five days at the fest. The images Cousins records are often of Thomas sitting, looking, and, well, driving. They discuss movies and the industry itself. Cousins also provides voice over narration which is similar in quality to that of documentarian Werner Herzog. In other words, it is quiet, casual, and yet eloquent.
Cousins then takes us on a trip through the various motifs present in many of the films Thomas has produced. One of these is driving (connecting the journey between these two men in an appropriate if obvious manner.) Scenes are shown from some related Thomas produced works, in particular the David Cronenberg directed 1996 film Crash (not to be confused with the much maligned 2004 Paul Haggis Oscar winning Crash…) The discussions surrounding this motif and many others are quite enlightening. When they get to talking about sex and touch, several scenes are analyzed from other noteworthy films such as Bertolucci’s 2003 film The Dreamers and David Mackenzie’s Young Adam. Cousins and Thomas make some insightful observations about characters’ movements and body language using specific scenes as examples.
Another motif addressed is politics and the injustices of life found in Thomas produced films like The Dreamers and Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation. Death is also a common theme given Thomas’s own survival from cancer later in his life.
All of this is interestingly woven together but what is never clear, or mentioned, is how specifically Thomas influenced these themes throughout his career. Usually we attribute them to screenwriters and then directors. Rarely are there discussions about a producer’s effect on such content. Therein lies a specific problem I have with this film: Cousins doesn’t clearly distinguish between what Thomas specifically contributed to the films he produced. Should Thomas be given credit for the use of these themes and motifs? Those of us who teach or have made films often communicate to others that a producer’s role is mostly centered on the financial end of a production. They search for, contribute, and invest money in the work they produce. This isn’t to diminish what Thomas may have offered to the films he produced but it would be much clearer if Cousins had outlined this for audiences.
Instead Cousins takes a very different, if mostly artistic, approach to his subject. There are definitely some very beautiful shots along with carefully chosen film scenes here. While there are interviews with actors Thomas has worked with such as Tilda Swinton and Debra Winger, this isn’t a traditional or particularly conventional documentary portrait of an artist. Such a film definitely has its place. The problem is that the film, as is, may fade into obscurity because there isn’t enough for a wider audience to connect to. I hope that’s not the case, because it certainly was eye-opening to me.
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas opens tomorrow at the Landmark Century Centre in Chicago.
FILM: THE STORMS OF JEREMY THOMAS
DIRECTED BY: MARK COUSINS
STARRING: JEREMY THOMAS, DEBRA WINGER, TILDA SWINTON
RATING: 2 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
I’m always fascinated by the process of filmmaking and film careers. I get on my kicks whereby I will watch a retrospective of a directors’ works over the course of several days such as Francois Truffaut, Woody Allen, and more recently, Billy Wilder. So, when I was given the opportunity to view The Storms of Jeremy Thomas I was intrigued. Here is a producer I knew next to nothing about even after a graduate program at the University of Chicago and over 25 years of experience teaching film courses. The most noteworthy film Thomas produced, and won an Oscar for, was 1987’s The Last Emperor which is one of the very few Best Picture winners I have never seen. Approaching Mark Cousins’s documentary about the producer meant exploring a whole new world of this person’s film work. I’m not sure how many other film fans would choose to go down this rabbit hole though. The issue isn’t Thomas, it’s that his work is a bit elusive to general audiences and sadly underseen by many of the rest of us.
The framing for this film is a journey Cousins takes with Thomas en route to the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. They spend several days driving together and then another five days at the fest. The images Cousins records are often of Thomas sitting, looking, and, well, driving. They discuss movies and the industry itself. Cousins also provides voice over narration which is similar in quality to that of documentarian Werner Herzog. In other words, it is quiet, casual, and yet eloquent.
Cousins then takes us on a trip through the various motifs present in many of the films Thomas has produced. One of these is driving (connecting the journey between these two men in an appropriate if obvious manner.) Scenes are shown from some related Thomas produced works, in particular the David Cronenberg directed 1996 film Crash (not to be confused with the much maligned 2004 Paul Haggis Oscar winning Crash…) The discussions surrounding this motif and many others are quite enlightening. When they get to talking about sex and touch, several scenes are analyzed from other noteworthy films such as Bertolucci’s 2003 film The Dreamers and David Mackenzie’s Young Adam. Cousins and Thomas make some insightful observations about characters’ movements and body language using specific scenes as examples.
Another motif addressed is politics and the injustices of life found in Thomas produced films like The Dreamers and Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation. Death is also a common theme given Thomas’s own survival from cancer later in his life.
All of this is interestingly woven together but what is never clear, or mentioned, is how specifically Thomas influenced these themes throughout his career. Usually we attribute them to screenwriters and then directors. Rarely are there discussions about a producer’s effect on such content. Therein lies a specific problem I have with this film: Cousins doesn’t clearly distinguish between what Thomas specifically contributed to the films he produced. Should Thomas be given credit for the use of these themes and motifs? Those of us who teach or have made films often communicate to others that a producer’s role is mostly centered on the financial end of a production. They search for, contribute, and invest money in the work they produce. This isn’t to diminish what Thomas may have offered to the films he produced but it would be much clearer if Cousins had outlined this for audiences.
Instead Cousins takes a very different, if mostly artistic, approach to his subject. There are definitely some very beautiful shots along with carefully chosen film scenes here. While there are interviews with actors Thomas has worked with such as Tilda Swinton and Debra Winger, this isn’t a traditional or particularly conventional documentary portrait of an artist. Such a film definitely has its place. The problem is that the film, as is, may fade into obscurity because there isn’t enough for a wider audience to connect to. I hope that’s not the case, because it certainly was eye-opening to me.
The Storms of Jeremy Thomas opens tomorrow at the Landmark Century Centre in Chicago.