Joe
Director: David Gordon Green
Year Released: 2013
Rating: 2.5
Resilient Gary (Tye Sheridan), stuck with an abusive alcoholic father (Gary Poulter), seeks a mentor (and a method of escape) so he starts working for troubled Joe (Nicolas Cage), who runs a business (with a few loyal workers) poisoning and cutting down trees. While there is something a bit too familiar about the plot structure of this one (man seeking 'salvation') - with Green working from the novel by the very hard-edged and pulpy Larry Brown - it is worth noting that Cage's performance in this is exemplary: it's basically a movie about him trying to keep his rage under control (in defiance of authority figures and those he cannot tolerate). The casting of real-life vagrant Poulter (now deceased) as the father is a stroke of brilliance: he wasn't a method actor, he was playing out the life he actually lead.
