Joe ★★★★
11.15pm-1.35am Film Four

Advertisement

That rare beast — a film starring Nicolas Cage that you can recommend in mixed company. This downbeat, Texas-set indie from director David Gordon Green (who made his name with the broad stoner comedy Pineapple Express) casts a dialled-down Cage as the laconic foreman of a small deforestation crew who takes peripatetic teen Tye Sheridan (previously seen in a similar role with Matthew McConaughey in Mud) under his wing. Against an atmospherically shot woodland backdrop, their surrogate father-son bond is tested by simmering feuds and the intervention of the boy’s abusive, no-good father, played with authentic power by Gary Poulter. A homeless drifter in real life, Poulter was tragically found dead before the film was released.

For more of today’s free-to-air films, see our TV listings

Advertisement

Order your copy of the Radio Times Guide to Films 2017

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement