Review of Joe (2014) by Reini U — 16 Apr 2014

: For anyone who has written off Nicolas Cage, here is David Gordon Green's truly excellent JOE. Nicolas Cage plays the title character who holds a dark past filled with hate and crime who is trying to walk the straighter edge. He meets a young teen played by the brilliant Tye Sheridan whom he gives a job to after seeing the level of dedication and earnest nature of the kid. As the film goes on we realize the kid comes form a terribly broken and dirt poor family complete with abused mother alcoholic deadbeat father and abused sister. Joe starts to slowly realize that he is need of help and decides to start taking him under his wing.

AS you can tell, this sounds a lot like the 2013 Matthew McCounaghey film MUD but that doesn't mean this film is any less worthy of viewing because of that. What makes JOE worth the watch is the fantastic acting done by Sheridan and Cage. Their characters work very well playing off one another as well as sole individuals who we feel for, especially Joe himself. However, the real acting surprise comes from the man who plays Sheridan's father. A little reading on the film revealed that he was actually a homeless street performer discovered by Green. This guy is mesmerizing in that we see how nasty and vile he is but it also presents a thin layer of sympathy that we can understand (if we choose to) why this man is broken and why he walks his life as despicable as he is. Green is known for his realism drama and the casting of non-actors in some of his films but in JOE he found a true gem. Unfortunately he died shortly after the film was completed, which is a shame as I'm sure Green would've wanted to use him again.

It's amazing and a true testament to his talent how Green can flip from something so ridiculous as a stoner comedy (He directed PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, YOUR HIGHNESS and even THE SITTER) but also present us emotionally satisfying and brutally honest depiction of real life with something like JOE and even his previous PRINCE AVALANCHE. The performances are excellent, the story may be a tad slow pace-wise but thanks to some added humor it keeps us invested long enough to et past the slow aspects of it and hanging on until the very end. Nicolas Cage is back in his finest form and I hope he only keeps on going. RATING: B+.