Joe (15)

Directed by David Gordon Green

3/5

Resurrection appears to be the theme of the week, with Nicolas Cage being provided with a perfect boost to his flagging career in the eponymous role.

Although a contemporary proletarian story it’s like a return to the western genre, reminiscent of the outlaw Shane seeking redemption. 

Joe (Cage) is a hard-drinking, chain-smoking, fighting man who likes his women raw and who’s just out of prison and got a job bossing a team poisoning trees for corporate deforestation.

It could be an image of any former industrial wasteland and Joe, despite his transgressions, pays on the nail as he respects those who’ve put in an effort.

So, when approached by 15-year-old Gary (Tye Sheridan) asking for a job he’s instantly attracted to the kid’s fighting spirit, especially after learning he’s being abused by his alcoholic father (Gary Poulter).

This is very much a man’s world, with women just providing background props as mothers, old flames and prostitutes to symbolise the excuses for why macho-morons fight.

The catalyst that ignites this combustible mix is Willie Russell (Ronnie Jean Blevins), a weedy, cowardly waste of space, whose has been reprimanded by Joe.

The scene is set for some sort of resolution as Russell seeks revenge through Gary — only to learn the latter has brawn as well as brains.

Aided by Tim Orr’s atmospheric cinematography and using real people, like Gary Poulter — who did live and die on the streets of Austin — the film strives for social realism.

Yet, for all the good intentions to provide what Joe calls a “metaphor” for misery and the visceral violence, it’s somewhat strained, despite Cage’s less-than-usually mannered performance.

The audience is captured by the genuine chemistry between Joe and Gary hinting at possibility of something better, before... well, that’s the whole point — what?

It’s a moral message about the madness of macho-posturing and “living the dream” of the pursuit of happiness, ending in the realisation it’s a parody of a grotesque nightmare.

No wonder Armageddon seems preferable to the millions turning for their inspiration to the survivalist myth of the Sasquatch.