I completely forgot about Joe when I was trying to remember all the 2014 films I’d already seen and that isn’t to say I think it’s a bad film, I just forgot it was going to hit theaters this year. In fact, it’s a pretty good movie with a solid performance from Nicolas Cage as the title character, an ex-con with a kind heart, as he becomes something of a father figure to a young boy (Tye Sheridan). Here’s the opening of my review from the Toronto Film Festival:
David Gordon Green‘s Joe mines backwoods, hick territory, finding a slight narrative kinship with Jeff Nichols‘ Mud combined with the tonal darkness of Winter’s Bone. The strongest thread holding the three films together is obviously the focus on down-on-their-luck families with bad dental hygiene, drinking problems and poor living conditions, all of which are traits I typically loathe. Narrative’s of this sort typically prey on the built in sadness that comes with seeing hard luck families scraping to survive rather than developing actual characters, but every so often a few rise above the rest.
Roadside picked up Joe for distribution and set an April 11 release date, but today it’s the international trailer we’re getting a look at as the film will hit French theaters at the end of April. Give the trailer a watch below.
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