My name is Joe

My Name is Joe is a powerful and moving film from well-known, politically fierce director, Ken Loach. Set in the slums of Glasgow, it focuses on Joe (played superbly by Peter Mullan), a reformed alcoholic who makes a living out of odd jobs and derives much enjoyment from coaching the local soccer team. He gets a new lease on life, however, when he meets and falls in love with Sarah (Louise Goodall), a healthcare worker. Things begin to fall apart when Joe is pulled back into the world of drugs and crime in order to save his friend, Liam (David McKay), whose life is at stake when he can’t pay back the local drug lords for his partner’s heroin addiction. Sarah’s disapproval of the underworld and Joe’s connections to it pushes their relationship to breaking point and Joe to the very edge. Loach’s film combines a razor-sharp portrayal of unemployed and working-class life in Glasgow with strong doses of melodrama. Clearly ‘leftist’ in his concerns, Loach reveals the limited options available to those living in a world dominated by a closed circuit of unemployment, substance abuse and crime. The possibility of breaking free of this circuit lies in the character, Joe, whose redemption however comes at a high price. In a manner reminiscent of Nicholas Ray, Loach dramatises the intense rhapsody and sheer desperation of gaining and losing a sense of humanity. “My Name is Joe” is both poignant melodrama and stirring political realism. Music by George Fenton.