Joe Kavanagh (Peter Mullan) is a recovering alcoholic, working in Scotland. He keeps busy by coaching a local soccer team, and by doing the occasional 'nixer' (i.e. odd job while on welfare). A chance encounter with a social worker, Sarah (Louise Goodall) leads to a romance, which is complicated at first by Joe's lack of money and later by their relationship with Liam (David McKay) and Sabine (Anne-Marie Kennedy). Liam is Joe's nephew and is struggling with a heroin problem - Sarah is the social worker dealing with Liam's family.
Ken Loach's latest film has some familiar themes :- the struggle of people at the margins of society to live dignified lives, the seemingly callous and indifferent nature of the state and the impact of poverty and deprivation on society in general. It doesn't make for very uplifting cinema, but Ken Loach has always used his work to highlight social problems and to promote a generally left-wing agenda. No problem there - very few directors are willing to even attempt to make movies about social injustice, and Loach has made some powerful movies in the past.
However, My name is Joe, while effectively evoking the environment of poverty, really doesn't have anything new or original to say, and resorts to rather cliched Hollywood devices in an attempt to inject some drama into the story. The central love story is gentle, fumblings and rather touching but unbalanced. While Joe agonizes over his future, as a 37-year old man with no family and no job, Sarah's expectations and ambitions remain unexplored.
What is also lacking is a sense of context. In Britain, there has been a new Labour government after 18 years of Conservative rule; the Conservatives, particularly when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister, was a favourite target of Loach. Yet, My Name is Joe makes no reference to this at all. The film is not all gloom :- there are some funny scenes involving Joe's soccer team (who wear the strip of West Germany) which recall Brian Glover's hilarious performance as the coach of the school soccer team in Loach's Kes (1969).
Joe's attempt to create a new, decent life with Sarah is compromised when he is forced to deal with a local drug-baron, McGowan (David Hayman). Unfortunately, the consequences are all too predictable and formulaic. Ken Loach has, in the past, created very powerful cinema by relentlessly focusing on the endeavours of the 'working class'. This time, he seems to be saying that life stinks, but very little else.
Directed by Ken Loach.
| ****** Excellent - An outstanding
movie ***** V. Good - Very enjoyable or engrossing **** Good - Entertaining *** Mediocre - Nothing special ** Poor - A waste of time * Terrible - Complete rubbish |
*** |
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