Old Joy Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Old friends reunited

Two old friends meet up to visit a hot spring out in the woods and spend a night camping out in Oregon. There's no incident or thrill to be found in this slight piece and the viewer's enjoyment depends as much on what they may bring to the film as to what the film delivers. We learn very little about the character's back-story and this allows the viewer to meditate on their own lost friendships and on life's small disappointments.

Old Joy is one of those films that celebrates the small moments in life; the transcendent beauty of nature, the sudden realisation that this is all there is. Old Joy feels like an old friend with its comfortable silences and gentle humour and its worth taking the trip with this film.

Old Joy

Much like Will Oldham's music this is work that appeals to a very specific and loyal audience. If you listen to a Bonnie Prince Billy album such as 'Master and Everyone' or 'The Letting Go' they are tinged with a quiet, contempletive loneliness and an affinity with nature. They are often as ambiguous and awkward as they are tender and heartfelt. And it's the ambiguity of Will Oldham's character here in Old Joy that makes this such an interesting study of post 30's adulthood. That very human desire to be free of commitment offset against the encroaching reality of loneliness, as old friends settle down into married life has rarely been captured so beautifully on film as it has been here. It's final shot also remains one of the most affecting i've seen this year, as after all Kurt's efforts to recapture a sense of belonging and purpose to his life during his trip, he wanders off screen alone, and above all lost. Will Oldham fans it's definately worth a watch, and for that matter worth a listen as the soundtrack beautifully conveys the films tone, courtesy of brilliance that is YO LA TENGO.