Roofman (Derek Cianfrance, 2025)
Pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t dumped and buried on Netflix. This looks like what Richard Brody calls a mid-range drama for adults, the kind that was once common in the 90’s and oughts. And on deeper reflection I find myself admiring this one. Cianfrance continues to chronicle the not-very-bad-but-not-all-that-good-white-men who find themselves in a sad state of their own making and, in an attempt to fix things, make it worse.
Rather than making a mockery of such losers, Cianfrance’s larger project has been a public appeal to understand them better. I remember Blue Valentine as a movie that inspired in its viewers a vicarious misery using any means necessary and one that provided no closure. This included the framing of the movie as a diptych — a sweet meet cute juxtaposed against a marriage in collapse in real time. However, the movie ends up being solipsistic and only makes room for the emotions of the husband, Frank, played by a bumbling and brooding Ryan Gosling.
Having read all the criticisms levied against Blue Valentine, Cianfrance’s sophomore outing was a lot more expansive. Instead of throwing a pity party for just one, again the bumbling brooding Ryan Gosling’s Luke, the movie explored what lies in the aftermath of tragic decisions. This was structured as a triptych with each act focusing on separate characters: First one follows Luke, the motorcycle stuntman in a travelling carnival who wishes to provide for his ex wife and child. The second act follows Bradley Cooper as the cop Avery who shot and killed Luke and is troubled by his conscience. And the last one follows Luke’s son Jason played by Dane DeHaan as he deals with the weight of his father’s legacy. I don’t remember much from my experience of watching this, except that it was a lot, and that it moved me.
Cianfrance’s third, Roofman, is a based on a true story. In fact before the movie begins the text asserts: This is a true story. This one follows Jeffrey Manchester, played by all time nice-jock Channing Tatum, as an army vet turned burglar who robs McDonalds by breaking in through the roofs (hence Roofman). His sole motive, to provide for his young daughter and two sons. No sooner than he is caught, he escapes prison and hides out in a Toys R Us. Rather than stay hidden, under a fake identity allows himself visit church, fall in love and start a life.
Jefferey is certainly the smartest dumb person there is. He is resourceful and sharp (which helps him escape prison and build a comfortable shelter within ToyRUs) but is so desperate for affection and validation that he can’t help but make stupid decisions. The plot feels like it could’ve used the frenetic energy of the Safdies, a la Uncut Gems, but Cianfrance is keen on playing this straight. The beats of the movie may be predictable but that doesn’t detract from the warmth it has to offer.
Cianfrance constantly leans in, instead of cutting away, and lets Jeffrey, and by extension us, feel the full loving embrace of a life that will always remain out of his grasp. This is a quiet character study of a man so unable to see beyond what lies in front of him: literally, as a prodigious scout and, figuratively, as a person incapable of comprehending the consequences of his actions.
But most of all this, and the rest of Cianfrance’s little filmography, are about the specific troubles of those that have fallen behind, without a social service net to keep them afloat. It is an indictment of ‘the system’ and even if Cianfrance may not underline these themes, they loom large in the background. Blue Valentine’s Dean is a highschool dropout who works as a mover making ends meet while Cindy, once an aspiring doctor, now works as a nurse. In Pines, Luke is motorcycle stuntman in a traveling carnival struggling to fend for his son. Here, Jeffrey is a vet who finds no place in civilian life. Each of these men are punished fatally (Luke), unfairly (Jeffrey) or they suffer quietly with none of the emotional or intellectual tools to fix themselves (Dean).
Roofman may not be a movie that bristles in its form, but in offering a glimpse of a sweet beautiful life it forces us to think why so few people can attain it.