Joe Bell, starring Mark Wahlberg

Reid Miller and Mark Wahlberg in Joe Bell.
Picture: Roadside Points of interest

It’s laborious to debate Joe Bell with out revealing a key early twist in Joe Bell, so let’s get the non-spoiler stuff out of the best way first: Based mostly on a real story, Reinaldo Marcus Inexperienced’s movie is a few father (Mark Wahlberg) trying to stroll from his hometown of La Grande, Oregon, to New York Metropolis as a way to unfold an anti-bullying message after his teenage son Jadin (Reid Miller) was bullied in school for being homosexual. Wahlberg is at instances fairly affecting within the a part of a person who doesn’t fairly know how one can do the correct factor however is aware of he ought to do one thing. Nevertheless, the movie’s pretty relentless concentrate on Joe at instances provides quick shrift to Jadin’s personal story.

That’s the temporary evaluate. The longer, spoiler-y model is extra difficult. These aware of the real-life Joe Bell’s story will know that his son Jadin wasn’t merely bullied; he died by suicide on the age of 15 because of the homophobic abuse he obtained. In Joe Bell’s early scenes, nevertheless, we see Jadin strolling alongside his father on his cross-country trek, remarking on the panorama round them, having fun with grilled wild asparagus, singing Woman Gaga songs, laughing at Joe’s desire of Dolly Parton over Cher. It’s solely throughout a go to to a homosexual bar that Joe reveals — to a Dolly Parton impersonator, naturally — that his son is lifeless. The boy strolling alongside him, in different phrases, is a phantom.

A lot of what one thinks of Joe Bell will activate what one thinks of this twist. Some will certainly discover it manipulative. It’s, after all. However motion pictures manipulate; that’s simply a part of what they do. And the straightforward thought of a father strolling alongside an imaginary, still-alive model of his deceased son is agonizing. After his revelation within the bar, Joe comes again to an empty motel room — a room that was full of Jadin’s energetic presence two scenes earlier — and we really feel the measure of his loss.

We’d additionally discover that the boy strolling alongside him is just not Jadin however an thought of Jadin. Extra particularly, an thought of Jadin nonetheless held by his father. Throughout a cease at a diner, Joe overhears a few bigots then fingers them a brochure and promptly leaves with out consuming. Ghost Jadin excoriates him for not kicking these males’s asses. It’s an odd second and doesn’t really feel like one thing the child would say. So, after we understand that this isn’t Jadin however Joe chatting with himself by way of Jadin, this man’s interior world begins to return into sharper focus.

The actual journey in Joe Bell isn’t the one Joe is making throughout the nation however moderately the extra introspective one he hasn’t taken but. In flashbacks, we see that the gorgeous conservative, good ol’ boy Joe was uncertain of how one can deal with his son — how one can deal with the boy’s becoming a member of the cheerleading squad or his refusal to interact in macho rituals, like watching soccer on TV. The daddy professes a type of half-hearted help, however he’s clearly embarrassed by his youngster. When he says, “I really like you” to Jadin, it feels like a risk.

This identical psychological block dominates Joe’s trek. He strikes relentlessly ahead, delivering speeches to high-school gyms and bingo halls in an aggressive, motormouth monotone. He’s in a rush as a result of he’s not likely strolling throughout the U.S.; he’s working from himself. He hasn’t considered the position his personal don’t-ask-don’t-tell angle might need performed in serving to finish his son’s life. Wahlberg (who himself had some violent, bigoted incidents in his youth, which can or might not have influenced his choice to make this film) excels at enjoying that type of pushed, unreflective character. He has a harder time when Joe lastly does make outward shows of emotion, however no less than he’s attempting, which is a welcome sight for these of us who’ve all the time appreciated him as an actor.

Joe Bell was written by Diana Ossana and the late, nice Larry McMurtry, who additionally wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain. That 2005 movie is vastly superior to Joe Bell, however one can see an odd continuum between them. The indignant, contemptuous sneer we see on the finish of Brokeback on the face of Peter McRobbie, enjoying the daddy of the late Jack Twist (performed by Jake Gyllenhaal, who’s listed as an govt producer on Joe Bell) has by no means left me. Joe Bell makes an attempt to painting a distinct type of grieving father — equally uncomprehending, no less than initially, however much more compassionate and human. If the thought of constructing a film within the 12 months 2021 a few man struggling to just accept his son’s homosexuality doesn’t precisely really feel notably contemporary or related — properly, that’s in all probability true, however we may additionally wish to regulate simply what number of nations around the globe refuse to present Joe Bell a correct launch.

Artistically, nevertheless, the film faces the identical religious problem that Joe Bell the character does — it doesn’t actually see Jadin. And in contrast to Joe, the movie by no means fairly achieves self-awareness. We do get glimpses of the son’s life in flashback, together with a short, clandestine romance with a boy on the soccer crew. However we preserve ready for a full sense of Jadin as an individual as an alternative of a imaginative and prescient of him merely as a sufferer, a supporting participant in his dad’s story of acceptance.

The issue with Joe Bell isn’t that it’s telling Joe’s story; that’s an vital (and tragic) story that must be advised. The issue is that it fails to additionally inform Jadin’s story — even after it makes the purpose that Jadin’s journey is inextricable from Joe’s. That’s not merely a problem of illustration however of dramatic weight. A fuller image of Jadin would have expanded the movie’s sense of tragedy and would even have made Joe’s transformation extra visceral. Because it stands, Joe Bell is an often shifting movie that misses its probability at greatness.