# Joe the King (1999)

### reviewed by
Atul Khare

In a way Joe the King is a movie that feels too bad to be true : surely, it couldn't be happening at this time, and definitely not in this country?

Well, that's a question for the audience to answer, and film depicts the plight of its 14 year old character, Joe Henry, well played by Noah Fleiss. It's impossible to ignore the similarities with Truffaut's 400 Blows while watching the film, but to its credit, the story is told in an uncompromising fashion without any sentimental moralizing baggage.

Joe's absentee father -- convincingly played by Van Kilmer (with a beer belly and all) -- is an alcoholic janitor who works at his school. Joe is subject to countless taunting and humiliation revolving around this fact, and even his teachers don't seem immune to it. His mother (Karen Young) works full time, and is too tired to care for Joe. His father's absenteeism may be for the better, as his idea of discipline seems to be brutalizing his son.

Joe also works at a small eatery to try and make ends meet, and his woes are multiplied by his father's debtors who hound him regularly. The uncared and lovelorn Joe plays truant, and resorts to petty theft, but very soon things spin out of control.

Debutant writer-director Frank Whaley's film tells it as it is, but don't go to the movie expecting the king to be redeemed.

    Atul

    Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
    Before you buy.

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