Post by StevePulaski on Jun 15, 2016 0:28:43 GMT -5
Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)
Directed by: John Patrick Shanley
Rating: ★★★
Directed by: John Patrick Shanley
Rating: ★★★
There's the unfortunately credible idea that the audience who craves something new and original in the films they watch doesn't dig deep enough to find those particular films, and the notion that films made for specific individuals will go unseen by those specific individuals. Finally, there are films that are uncommonly original - even stupidly daring or whimsical - that provide audiences with a sense of bewilderment as to the basis or thought-process behind their creation. Films so perplexing in their existence that they become oddities or even relics of the past that are embraced by the strange, absorbed by large groups with cult-like devotion, and studied by homegrown film historians that can't get enough of their own medicine.
Joe Versus the Volcano may not fit that bill, but it is definitely an admirably original work, in addition to being the first pairing of the long-cherished Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The film revolves around a man named Joe (Hanks), who has become a corporate drone who has lived a life of misery ever since he committed to working a nine-to-five gig. He routinely visits doctors who find nothing wrong with him despite a lack of happiness, until Dr. Ellison (Robert Stack) diagnoses him with a "brain cloud," a rare disease with no cure nor symptoms that renders a person with only five or six months to live.
In reaction to the news, Joe quits his ho-hum job and decides to use the remaining months of his life for a greater purpose. He winds up meeting a wealthy corporate tycoon (Lloyd Bridges) who looks to mine for a rare mineral found only on the island of Wapani Woo, located in the Pacific Islands. In efforts to obtain the mineral, Joe learns from natives that they believe the Gods remain pleased and willing to provide people with plentiful gifts with the obedience of a human sacrifice every century. With allegedly no time to live anyway, Joe agrees to travel to a sacred volcano where he will throw himself into the fiery pit in exchange for his new friend to have mining rights and to have the Gods pleased with his obedience.
Along the way, he meets the tycoon's daughter Angelica (Ryan), a beautiful woman who agrees to help him in his plight, though she, nor do we, for that matter, doesn't fully grasp the logic behind his diagnosis nor motive. It doesn't matter, though. Joe is convinced what he'll do will benefit many people, and with his life cut short as is, he won't be losing much of anything other than a few months of his life he wasn't really ready to prepare for anyway.
Joe Versus the Volcano is silly and whimsical; the kind of film that unashamedly plays by its own rules and disregards the fear of not being accepted and the consequences of not fitting in. It features two actors we've long seen pull off fearless and emotionally potent roles not so much as "slumming it" in an unconventional film but embracing a premise so outlandishly goofy yet so unabashedly original that it can only work to further showcase their status as great actors.
In particular, Hanks looks like he's having a lot of fun with his character. Consider the scene where he is traveling out to the island, afloat on a large chest, where he plays golf using a green overlay and a rim around the chest that protects the balls from falling off (as we see, unfortunately, it is not windproof). At one point, Hanks' Joe can't help but break out in a dance sequence and just go completely off the rails in terms of being spontaneous and cheerful.
Joe Versus the Volcano may not be a perfect execution. It takes a bit to really get its gears turning, and when it does, it produces results that are sporadically funny and dramatic, leaving an odd mix of genres that don't fully function as either in the long-run. However, it has spirit and definitely packs originality and confidence as it exercises its difference in approach and tone in stride. The way it seems to see it, you're either with it or against it.
Starring: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Lloyd Bridges, and Robert Stack. Directed by: John Patrick Shanley.