Joe the King (1999)

Saw this movie about an hour ago. It is not an ordinary movie – or at least not one you would commonly expect to find as a blockbuster . But never the less Joe the Kind is the kind of movie I like – showing what can really happen in the real life.A festival type of film which provides a real challenge for the mind of the viewer.
The flaw of this movie was that the action was developing slowly – but when you think about it – may be the slow pace is on purpose -so the viewer can be really sucked in the story and the life of Joe. The main character Joe – himself is a 13 years old boy who is trying to come out of age in an suburban working town. With an indifferent mother and abusive father – the life is not easy for Joe. From what I saw may be a little bit of affection from either of his parents could have turn the page – and the whole story would have been different . Instead he has to work at the nearby restaurant – there you go – you have young boy who is responsible enough to support his family , tries his best to be a good student and really cares for his mother ( which can not be said for her). Joe cares for his father as well – so does his brother – but as result Joe gets spanked at school and five years later his brother get beaten.
The acting in the movie is very good – Noah Fleiss plays in the role of Joe and really succeeds to show the desperation in life of Joe. Val Kilmers plays in the role of Joe`s dad and I think that he did good , even through I read some comments elsewhere which stated the opposite because of the ” cool dude ” image of the actor.
An excellent coming of age story , Joe the king is a must see for the fans of this genre. I was able to make many personal references – mainly due to the fact that sometimes the good people get what they do not deserve – and I have felt that on my own back few years ago.
http://youtu.be/5TlvmSOeNbs
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