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Dom Robinson reviews

My Name is Joe

Distributed by
Film Four

Cat.no: VCD 0016
Cert: 15
Running time: 101 minutes
Year: 1998
Pressing: 1999
Region(s): 2, PAL
Chapters: 16 plus extras
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Languages: English
Subtitles: English for the hard of hearing
Widescreen: 1.85:1
16:9-enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: £19.99
Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Dolby Digital Trailer, Interviews

Director:

Black Jack, Carla's Song, Family Life, Fatherland, Flickering Flame, Hidden Agenda, Kes, Ladybird Ladybird, Land and Freedom, Looks and Smiles, My Name is Joe, Raining Stones, Riff Raff, Poor Cow

Producer:

Rebecca O'Brien

Screenplay:

Paul Laverty

Music:

George Fenton

Cast:

Joe: Peter Mullan

The Big Man, Braveheart, Fairytale: A True Story, My Name is Joe, Riff Raff, Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, Director: Orphans

Sarah: Louise Goodall

My Name is Joe

Shanks: Gary Lewis

My Name is Joe, Orphans, Postmortem

"My Name is Joe and I'm an alcoholic" are the hardest words that unemployed Joe Kavanagh (Peter Mullan) has to say at the start of the film. A recovering alcoholic with more than his fair share of problems he finds the one thing he's missed in his life for sometime - love - and it comes in the form of Sarah (Louise Goodall), a woman who works at the local GP surgery as a teenage pregnancy advisor.

If you think this is a lovey-dovey happy story then check the name of the director and think again. Joe isn't the only one with relationship problems. His football-loving son, Liam (David McKay), has a junkie for a girlfriend (Sabine, played by Annemarie Kennedy) and a very young child, as well as a Mr. Big in tow to whom he owes £2000 in drug money after a spell in the clink.

The film has a few clever and humorous touches, such as the time when he's spotted working with his best mate Shanks (Gary Lewis) by a DSS officer and photographed Les-Battersby-style for doing what he shouldn't. It's also well-juxtaposed with gripping dramatic scenes during which you could cut the tension with a knife.

The picture quality is fairly bleak and bland but this is down to the way Loach films and not a problem causing by the DVD's encoding. The disc is presented in an anamorphic 1.85:1 original cinematic ratio (not the 16:9 quoted on the back cover) and the average bitrate is a middling 5.27Mb/s, but while it varies wildly around this, for some reason, between 35 minutes and 70 minutes, it stays at an almost constant 5.2Mb/s ?!

The sound quality is also okay, but not outstanding. Presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, a brief spurt of classical music is the only time your speakers will get any sort of workout.

Extras :

Chapters and Trailer :

Could use a few more - 16 for the 101-minute running time - and the original theatrical trailer.

Languages/Subtitles :

English Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English for the hard of hearing. These are often necessary if you're not used to the very strong Scottish accents.

And there's more... :

29 minutes of Interviews with cast and crew, bizarrely split into three titles on the disc rather than chapters and the Egypt Dolby Digital Trailer.

Menu :

A static and silent menu with pictures of Joe and options to start the film, select a scene, watch the extras or toggle subtitles on/off.

Overall, this is an excellent film only really marred by an unsatisfying ending when events really come to a head. It's worth a look for anyone, particularly fans of Loach's work and anyone from abroad for whom a similar release in their country would be a fat chance.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000

Check out VCI's and Film Four's Web sites.

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