Joe the King
As a realistic
view of adolescence, Joe the King is at once tragic and
uplifting. Its trials are not watered down, nor are they explicit with
any intent to shock. Unlike other films of this genre, this story of
a troubled boy from a troubled home makes no apologies for its fleeting
brutality, but also doesn’t bog itself down with undue righteousness or
sentimentality.
Joe (played by Noah Fleiss) has had a rough time of it. An alcoholic
father and incompetent mother leave little room for Joe to function in
what for other children is the normal world of school, friends and growing
up. Yet this is not your average sob story. Joe is a competent, self-sufficient
young man, though deeply troubled by his lack of support and love from
his parents. In other words, he is an adolescent.
Written and directed by actor Frank Whaley as a first feature film, Joe
the King presents adolescence as it happens. The film has been
criticized as being heavy handed, and it is true that every adult seems
to be out to get Joe. The ensemble cast is exactly that. The adults
in the film swirl around Joe while he bears witness, but his world remains
the self-centered isolated place of a teenager.
This
film will not get any academy awards, and it may not launch Frank Whaley’s
career into the limelight. But it is a moving film, and the characters
are well developed and meaningful. The ensemble cast brings a vivid color
to the film, with appearances by Val Kilmer, Ethan Hawke, Camryn Manheim,
John Leguizamo and Karen Young (whose role in Tom Noonan’s “The Wife”
was unforgettable). Young brings the intensity she had in that film to
her portrayal of Joe’s mother, the ruined wife of an alcoholic.
Mostly, what this film offers is a day in the life of a troubled kid. It offers an inside view of the small events whose effects culminate to create the complex inner and outer life of a teenager – events that sometimes don’t have the most agreeable outcomes. But, as Whaley imbues, that’s life.
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