Hidden Gems: Joe Versus the Volcano

By Kyle Lee

May 11, 2016

Pictured: Joe. Not pictured: The Volcano

New at BOP:
Share & Save
Digg Button  
Print this column
Joe asks Dede out, and is later approached by a wacky billionaire named Samuel Graynamore (a wild-eyed and hilarious Lloyd Bridges) who wants to hire Joe to help him out. A tiny Pacific island called Waponi Woo has a rare mineral deposit that the islanders won’t give Graynamore access to mine for his business unless he gets someone to act as human sacrifice to the fire god by jumping into the island’s volcano. Since Joe is going to die anyway, why not have him do it, right? Graynamore will give Joe a ton of money to live like a king until that fateful day. He even has one of his daughters, Angelica (also played by Meg Ryan) pick him up at the airport in LA, before his other daughter Patricia (also also played by Meg Ryan) sails Joe to the island.

There are plenty of side characters Joe meets along the way, including a philosophical limo driver played by Ossie Davis, and the island chief played with hilarious understatement by Abe Vigoda. But one of the things that makes this movie work, and I think something that turns people off, is that these people don’t quite act or talk like movie characters, and especially not like real people. They speak in dialogue that’s subtly stylized, sometimes using odd words, or just saying things in a way that doesn’t sound like everyday speech. To the movie’s fans, this is all part of the fairy tale ride you join the movie on. Anjelica referring to herself as a flibbertigibbet is funny in its use of an almost archaic word that nobody actually uses anymore. I’m sure the detractors look at it as annoying or pretentious or any other negative thing, but this movie has whimsy and also a sense of heart that really connects with me. I’ve not heard him talk about it as an influence, but this feels like a Wes Anderson movie, but made when Anderson was still in college.




Advertisement



The recurring motifs in the movie help tie things together even though it’s really an episodic journey. The distinct lightning bolt pattern, which is the shape of the walkway into Joe’s work, as well as a crack in his wall, the shape of an actual lightning bolt that sinks a boat, and ultimately the shape of the walkway up the volcano. Joe refers to the crooked road we all have to travel, and this subtle visual repetition helps underscore that. Again, it’s to the credit of Shanley and Welch’s planned production design that they were able to pull this off visually. Shanley has said the movie was meticulously storyboarded, with his goal being that even though there’s not a ton of camera movement, the frame will be beautifully packed to the brim with many interesting pieces. There are things in the script like that as well, such as the three books Joe has in his office being Romeo and Juliet, Robinson Crusoe, and The Odyssey, all of which inform his journey.

But still, a movie must grab us with its story. Like the movie as a whole, Joe’s story is a mashup of a lot of things. It’s part the classic hero's courageous journey, part romantic comedy, part lonely character study, and part self-help style “waking up and appreciating life” kinda story. Joe faces his imminent death by embracing life. Ryan’s Patricia, as she and Joe are falling in love, tells Joe, “My father says that almost the whole world is asleep. Everybody you know. Everybody you see. Everybody you talk to. He says that only a few people are awake, and they live in a state of constant, total amazement.”


Continued:       1       2       3

     


 
 

Need to contact us? E-mail a Box Office Prophet.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
© 2024 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.