My Name Is Joe

Joe Kavanagh (Peter Mullan), out-of-work Glasgow housepainter, is a terrifically attractive fellow, and though he's 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's nothing star-crossed about their potential love, but each is tough enough to set limits till they've traveled over a distance of mutual ground. Meanwhile, Joe's status as role model among his more emotionally and economically precarious neighbors--an extended family of man--is good for a surprising number of lusty laughs and one fatal, criminal complication that could jeopardize 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