Joe - film review: 'Nicolas Cage appears to be mocking his own brooding-hero schtick'

It’s too bad that the plot of David Gordon Green's indie drama is so contrived. It could have been a Texan masterpiece to rank alongside Badlands
Southern comfort: Nicolas Cage plays an ex-con who befriends a shy teenager, played by Tye Sheridan

Want to know how to do a cool face? Nicolas Cage, in this Texas indie drama, will show you how. His character, Joe, is a nicotine-fuelled, halfway respectable ex-con who befriends shy teen Gary (Tye Sheridan). “Stand like you own land …” Joe tells Gary, “Now make a face of pain! Now smile! Smile on top of the pain … You’re like, ‘I got a lot on my mind but I can get through it!’”

Joe is sharing a trade secret, acknowledging that alpha males are created, not born. Maybe Cage, too, is tipping us a wink. We know that face, from his many cheesy action blockbusters and pretentious art-house epics. The 50-year-old actor, brilliant when he can be bothered, seems to be mocking his own brooding-hero schtick.

Director David Gordon Green and his regular cinematographer Tim Orr fill the frame with Cage’s equine cheekbones and massive limbs. But there’s another, skimpier fellow who gets almost as much attention.

Gary has a shambolic, alcoholic dad called Wade (Gary Poulter). Everything Wade does makes you reel. He’s a superb breakdancer, for example. And when he kisses the forehead of a man (a man he’s just bludgeoned to death), it brings tears to your eyes.

Poulter was a real-life drifter (he drowned in a ditch a few months after the film was made). He has the kind of star quality that can only be described as haunting.

Hollywood actors love playing hobos but no matter how messy their hair, or cheap their clothes, they always give off a whiff of wealth. At one point, Joe grabs Wade and says: “Now get the hell away before I knock what’s left of your f***ing teeth out.” I don’t have access to Poulter’s dental records; all I can say is that, with him in the role, these words make sense.

It’s too bad that the plot is so contrived. The script is based on a novel by Larry Brown and from the minute Gary alludes to his mute sister, you know this innocent is going to prompt Joe to do something crazily noble.

The recent Cold in July used sexually vulnerable females in just the same way. Rebels with a cause put bums on seats. But Green’s hero is Terrence Malick and, with a bolder script, Joe could have been a Texan masterpiece to rank alongside Badlands.

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