Joe will hit US theaters on April 11th from Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate.
“Joe… a good man, at least to me, anyway”
David Gordon Green’s Joe feels like it takes place in a rougher town just down the river from the films of his peer, Jeff Nichols. It doesn’t hurt that Joe co-stars the incredible young actor Tye Sheridan, who was a lead in Mud. Here Sheridan plays Gary, a teen on the verge of manhood who feels compelled to provide for his family and protect his mother and sister from his monstrous, drunken, and abusive father. As his family wanders from town to town, taking up residence in a new condemned house wherever they go, Gary tries to figure out how to survive. Sheridan recaptures the earnestness of his all-American performances thus far, in both Tree Of Life and the aforementioned Mud. And it is easy to see why his Gary would win over the heart of Joe, Nicolas Cage’s most wonderful performance in years and the most honest to God tough guy he’s probably ever played, no matter how many of his previous action films you have seen.
Gary approaches Joe as his crew of laborers work to clear out a property of all its trees. The inherent good inside of Joe compels him to bring the boy onto his team and give him a chance to work for a living. But this friendship sets off a collision course between Joe and Gary’s father that feels dangerous and unpredictable. Oh, and that inherent good inside of Joe that I was talking about? Well, it wars constantly with the inherent evil found inside that same man.
I always thought no one working today quite did rural poverty tales like Jeff Nichols, but David Gordon Green gives him a run for his money here, with depth that reaches Winter’s Bone levels of authenticity. Mostly casting local actors for this Austin-shot film, the faces and dialects on display are phenomenal. The actor who played Gary’s father Wade (Gary Poulter, in almost a co-lead performance along with Cage and Sheridan) was a homeless man discovered by some of the film’s producers when they met him at a bus stop. And the sheriff is played by Green’s next door neighbor. There are accents so thick that I could barely understand what was being said. But Green coaxes incredible performances from the entire cast and this tiny town feels lived in… and lived in hard, for that matter.
The screenplay was written by Gary Hawkins, who was a film school professor to Green and who adapted the screenplay from a novel by Larry Brown. And, as it turns out, both Green and Jeff Nichols worked together on a documentary about Larry Brown that was directed by Hawkins back when they were in film school. Wrap your brain around the continuity of all that. And while you are at it, marvel at how so much talent can sometimes spring up from the same place and the same time. David Gordon Green is a filmmaker whose early work I desperately need to take in because I was introduced to him through his larger studio comedies like Pineapple Express. And Nichols is easily one of my favorite American directors working today. But after Prince Avalanche last year, and Joe this year, I’d be willing to put Green’s name forward as one of the most exciting filmmakers telling uniquely American tales right now.
I love the way characters come and go from Joe. There’s nary a needless spot of exposition. Real people who have real pasts with Joe pop up, such as a young lady who moves in with him part way through and clearly relies on that side of Joe that is laden with goodness to keep her safe from yet another abusive person in this town. And the aforementioned sheriff who knows that Joe is just a few more incidents away from another serious jail stint and is somehow able to get through to Joe in a way no one else can. Hawkins’ screenplay treats the audience like intelligent humans who can read into the many incredible scenes of dialog to get to know the characters through their actions. Need to know the depths of Gary’s father’s depravity? You’ll see that. Want to know how desperate Gary is for a father figure and for any sense of salvation from the bum hand life has dealt him? Scene after scene of hard work and child-like innocence, mixed with an edge of coming of age, will let you know exactly who Gary is… even if he doesn’t say a whole lot.
And Cage? No, you won’t hear a ton of backstory on him either… but it’ll become very clear exactly who Joe is by the time the final scenes play out. A complex, benevolent man with a rage that is barely contained and kept at bay by a delicate balance of chain smoking, prostitute-visiting, and indulging in that pesky undying goodness inside of him from time to time. There’s mention of a child he doesn’t know, and maybe some deeper discretions in his past that he is trying desperately to leave behind. Joe is a fair man, offering work to anyone who puts in the effort, and the movie goes out of its way to show him as a friend to African Americans and Latinos, to young and to old. (So obviously my bleeding heart fell in love with him). I also love that he sports a Pantera shirt and there’s always metal blasting in his truck. Further incredible layers of this man to look out for include his dog (Dog), his theory on the irresistible attraction that Zippo lighters create in the ladies, and his “cool” face which he teaches Gary how to pull. While the film is layered and shockingly dark, it isn’t without several moments of laugh out loud humor and a heart that brought me to tears more than once. Cage is simply incredible. His paternal streak warring with his inner demons creates a wonderful place for a man’s man character to be, and Cage imbues the role with endless detail (see: Pantera t-shirt), that makes it a performance to be considered come awards season 2014.
The trailer for Joe had me slavering to see it, and I would recommend watching it if you are on the fence about this film. It’ll give you a great sense of the intensity of what Joe promises, but it won’t spoil a whole lot. As a matter of fact, I kept finding myself being surprised and delighted at the directions the film was taking, and it kept me guessing for large portions. If Joe or Gary have any chance at redemption or salvation, respectively, they’ll have to navigate through a world as portrayed by Green and Hawkins as a grimy and hardscrabble place. Nothing will come easy to any character in this film, and as an audience you’ll be put through the wringer as well. But the great thing about being put through a wringer is how damned rewarding it is to come out on the other side.
And I’m Out.
Originally published at old.cinapse.co on March 9, 2014.