Joe

In a rural Texas town where everyone knows everybody all too well, a teenager (Tye Sheridan) finds his loyalties torn between his abusive alcoholic father Wade (Gary Poulter) and hard-but-fair Joe (Nicolas Cage) who offers the boy both employment and guidance, even though Joe is hardly the most solid citizen himself. This evocative, loose-limbed film marks a very welcome return to form for Cage, who keeps his mannerisms in check while still vividly evoking a man driven by cruel demons and guided by angels. The rest of the cast are just as good, from fast-rising young star Sheridan to the indelible Poulter, a homeless man director Green and the casting agents discovered on the streets of Austin, who died shortly after the film was made. Before he went on to make junk food like Pineapple Express and Your Highness, Green built his early career on coaxing astonishing performances from non-professionals, and he outdoes himself here with this raw, sucker-punch of a movie.