Derek Cianfrance’s place in the current American cinema landscape might be somewhat minuscule, but it’s still one worth acknowledging. His small filmography of only four features and one HBO miniseries displays remarkable tonal and stylistic consistency: post-Cassavetes grit cranked so high it becomes practically Sirkian melodrama, focused on a heavy preoccupation with generational trauma and broken families. His last work, the Mark Ruffalo-led Emmy-winner I Know This Much is True, was spread across six hours, perhaps piling up misfortune to the point of misery-porn self-parody. Yet it was still wholly moving and authentic, evincing how the director ultimately succeeds despite himself.
This brings us to his first feature in nine years, Roofman, which sees some tug of war between Cianfrance and star-producer Channing Tatum. You can detect the former seeing another story of doomed familial bonds in working-class America, with the latter probably eyeing a star vehicle where he can be maybe the most likable onscreen character in decades. While that tension remains apparent throughout, by film’s end, a synthesis is fortunately reached.
Roofman is based on the wild true story of Jeffrey Manchester. It opens with him robbing a McDonald’s by politely informing the morning-shift employees that he doesn’t want to harm anyone. The small-time crook is a war veteran who, facing no job prospects, has always struggled providing for his family, despite the fact that he’s always had a certain craftiness––the smartest dumb person you’ll ever meet, as he’s described throughout. Finally caught for his fast food robberies, Manchester is placed in prison, where, in a sequence of heightened reality, he manages to escape. He gradually holes up in a North Carolina Toys “R” Us, disarming the security system so that he can have a makeshift home-of-sorts while evading the manhunt.
In mastering the surveillance camera, he becomes smitten by store employee Leigh (Kirsten Dunst), a struggling single mother of two daughters. She’s walked all over by a quietly tyrannical manager (Peter Dinklage) who likes to deny her scheduling requests. Manchester strikes up a romance with her after stepping out of the store, in turn instantly making himself a father figure to her two teens. The darker implication seems to be that he’s forgetting about his other family back home, for whom he provided by robbing in the first place. Perhaps under his charming, “giving” exterior is a very lost soul who denies what’s wrong with himself.
Tatum basically oozes charisma, and you’re reminded of what a better actor he actually is than most Academy Award-winning A-listers. But there’s the extent to which one senses an ego-trip star vehicle; Manchester is almost too likable. Yet just when you suspect that the edges have been sanded-down a little too much to pull off the ’70s character study Roofman is going for, the film nails its emotional, darker-tinged final 20 minutes. It becomes easier in retrospect to admire the tricky tonal balance Cianfrance is going for throughout, resulting in a bumpy, ultimately successful melodrama.
Roofman premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and opens on October 10.
The post TIFF Review: Roofman Finds Derek Cianfrance Succesfully Navigating a Tricky Tonal Balance first appeared on The Film Stage.
