| |
Joe
|
|
| Year: |
2013
|
|
Director: |
David Gordon Green
|
| Stars: |
Nicolas Cage, Tye Sheridan, Gary Poulter, Ronnie Gene Blevins, Adriene Mishler, Brian Mays, Aj Wilson McPhaul, Sue Rock, Heather Kafka, Brenda Isaacs Booth, Anna Niemtschk, Elbert Hill III, Milton Fountain, Roderick L. Polk, Aaron Spivey-Sorrells
|
| Genre: |
Drama |
| Rating: |
  7 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
Fifteen-year-old Gary (Tye Sheridan) has moved home a lot during his short life thanks to a father who manages to mess things up for him and his family wherever they go. The father is Wade (Gary Poulter), an irredeemable alcoholic, and the last thing Gary wants to do is wind up like him, so lacking a decent education seeks out basic employment in the Texas countryside where he has settled, if not for long. The man who will hire him is ex-convict Joe (Nicolas Cage), who runs a modest forestry business for larger contractors, and currently he assembles a gang to poison trees so they may be destroyed to make way for healthier - and more lucrative - pines to grow, therefore Gary believes he can make some money for himself this way.
It's a start, but his father has to get in on the act too, which causes some friction since he is in no way the dedicated worker his son is, and once Gary has some income he is going to steal it from him to spend on booze in this, David Gordon Green's return to the more naturalistic filmmaking that had made his name in indie circles before he graduated (if that's the right word) to starry stoner comedies. To many views it was the best project he had been involved with for quite some time, and not only that but they were of the opinion the same applied to its star, Nicolas Cage who had been rather indiscriminate in choosing roles considering his talent, apparently because he had a huge tax bill to pay off.
How long does it take to pay that kind of thing anyway? Setting that conundrum to one side, if you were fond of ker-ay-zee Cage then you would be advised to stay away from Joe as here he played it more or less straight, sure there were instances of him freaking out, but they were grounded in a sincere characterisation rather than a director winding him up and letting him go to paper over the cracks of a poorly designed script and lack of genuinely engaging incident otherwise. Essaying a "real" person Cage proved he could still be authentic in a manner befitting his Oscar win for Leaving Las Vegas, and if anything toned it down further than he had in his slightly hammy awards gatherer; here he was reminding us what built up his fanbase in the first place.
Well, granted there were two reasons he had his fans and the scenery-chewing was one of them, but it was cheering to watch him stretched in a role that saw his Joe a conflicted man who may deal in violence when pushed too far, but contained depths and a kindness that threw his more brutal side into sharper relief, and it helped that we could recognise he would never simply lash out for the sake of it, he was always forced into having the red mist descend. Joe becomes a surrogate father to Gary when Wade fails miserably to live up to his duties as a parent, though even then we are aware he is by no means perfect himself and given the reliance on alcohol almost every character shares, perhaps he should be reprimanded for introducing the youngster to the demon drink.
The difference was we believe Gary can handle his intake in a way his father cannot, or Joe for that matter. Just when this is settling in its first half hour into sleepy but earnest drama, suddenly the title character is shot in the shoulder by a local ne'erdowell, Willie Russell (a performance to relish from Ronnie Gene Blevins). This is down to a perceived slight, but a reminder that some people, Wade included, are always going to be troublemakers no matter how many chances they are given to redeem themselves, one of the themes that ties in with the highs and lows of being a potential role model unfolding here. This was based on a novel by Larry Brown and adapted by a former tutor of Green's, Gary Hawkins, so if it shares a rather episodic tone as it builds to its over the top finale, then at least it afforded ample opportunity for satisfying character work from the entire cast, a fine mix of professionals and amateurs. Special mention to Poulter, plucked from the streets by Green and displaying talent that would sadly go uncapitalised on as he died shortly after filming. Music by Jeff McIlwain and David Wingo.
|
| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
|
| |
|
| David Gordon Green (1975 - )
American indie director with a strong visual sense. Film school graduate Green made a big impression with his debut film, the powerful drama George Washington, while 2003's All the Real Girls was similarly well-received. An unexpected change of pace appeared when he directed stoner comedy Pineapple Express, the largest success of his career to that point, following it up with the widely reviled Your Highness. In contrast, the acclaimed Joe represented a return to his indie drama roots. After a lot of series television, he enjoyed his biggest hit with the 2018 Halloween sequel. |
|
|
