ANother Ken Loach classic about a recovering alcoholic fighting his demons and his past.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52905 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-05-01
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Can we talk? Everybody is pretty well agreed that Great Britain's Ken Loach is one of our most important filmmakers. On the basis of his work with actors alone--often actors who are unknown until showcased in his films--he commands a place in the modern Pantheon. The problem is that he sounds terminally "worthy"; his films invariably reflect a commitment to framing harsh sociopolitical realities and steeping us in the fight for justice, a square deal or a square meal. They sound, in short, as if they're "good for you"--whereas the fact is that they are almost always damned good, period.

My Name Is Joe makes for an excellent introduction to Loach country--partly because it's just a tad more immediate in its basic viewer appeal. Joe Kavanagh (Peter Mullan), out-of-work Glasgow housepainter, is a terrifically attractive fellow, and though he is also a recovering alcoholic, he seems eminently pulled-together and ready for yeoman service as a movie leading man. The main story line concerns his encounter with and growing attraction to a smart social worker (Louise Goodall). There is nothing star-crossed about their potential love, but each is tough enough to set limits till they've travelled over a distance of mutual ground. Meanwhile, Joe's status as role model among his more emotionally and economically precarious neighbours--an extended family of man--is good for a surprising number of lusty laughs and one fatal, criminal complication that could jeopardise his future. Peter Mullan won a well-deserved Best Actor award at Cannes in 1998, and subsequently directed a family comedy-drama of his own, Orphans. --Richard T. Jameson, Amazon.com

Special Features
16:9 Anamorphic Wide Screen
DVD 9
English
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Dolby Digital 5.1
Interviews
Theatrical Trailer
Interactive Menus
Scene Index
English

Synopsis
Peter Mullan (ORPHANS, MISS JULIE) won the Best Actor award at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival for his performance as Joe Kavanagh, a recovering alcoholic in his late thirties. Like half the people in his impoverished Glasgow neighborhood, he's unemployed and struggles to get by between odd jobs and the dole, along with coaching a ragtag soccer team largely consisting of delinquents. As difficult as his life may seem, he's buoyed by a willed optimism that he realizes is the only alternative to reverting to his addiction. When he's caught by a niggling unemployment official while doing the odd wallpapering job for social worker-nurse Sarah Downie (Louise Goodall), she helps to keep him from losing his sinecure. The two soon begin a tentative relationship, but Joe remains connected to his former life through his young friend Liam (David McKay), an ex-con and former addict. Mullan is utterly believable as another of social realist director Ken Loach's characters attempting to negotiate the tough climate of 1980s Great Britain.

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Customer Reviews

Another masterpiece by Ken Loach
This gritty film by Ken Loach is Loach at his best, his excellent direction is matched superbly by Peter Mullan's acting as the lead in this story on Glaswegian life. The film deals with delicate issues of drugs and a crap football team, features central to Scottish lifestyle. If you want a film that gives you realism as you want and expect there is none better than Ken Loach and none better than "My name is joe". This is definitely one of the best British films of the last couple of years!

"Some of us can't go to the police, some of us can't go to the bank for a loan ....Some of us don't have a choice".
The name Ken Loach is synonymous with films which have a realism unparalleled by any other major director.

This film is set in Scotland (council estates obviously, this IS a Ken Loach film!) and tells the story of a recovering alcoholic, Joe.

I'd love to discuss some of the plot but I think I might give things away. This is a very personal journey and it would be unfair of me to spoil it.

All I'll say is that Joe has had a dodgy past but finally finds his life in a stable condition. He is a sober, moral man who becomes involved in a situation which compromises his ethics - but feels he has no choice.

This is perfectly acted, and feels so real that I was desperate to know the fate of the characters. Once the film finishes, those characters *still* seem real and maybe thats because to a large extent, they are.

Loach manages yet again to capture the essence of real humanity, this doesn't feel rehearsed, this doesn't feel scripted (and much of it probably isn't), it doesn't even feel acted - this is a real corner of humanity.

Brilliant
A hard-hitting, sledge-hammer of a film with supeb acting. This film completely blew me away.