Film Review – Joe

After realigning his cinematic chi with last year’s “Prince Avalanche,” director David Gordon Green returns to his filmmaking roots with “Joe,” which often plays like a sequel to his 2000 debut, “George Washington.” Poverty, alcoholism, and violence are the topics covered in this harrowing but intermittently ridiculous story, covered with habitual oddity by the helmer, who takes author Larry Brown’s novel and turns it into a circus of angry behavior and desperation, chasing whims whenever Gordon feels as though he can get away with it. It’s messy and crude, but “Joe” has meaning that breaks through eccentricity, finding a tale of bruised compassion to help balance out all the sticky Greenisms. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com