Such a quiet little film, short at just 73 minutes, understated in its direction, and without any grand revelations or events in its plot. The scenery of Oregon that we see from the car and then in the forest is beautiful and evocative, really making me want to get back up there and do some hiking, which made seeing this worth it all on its own. I probably would have liked just a teeny bit more from the script, but the restraint is intentional, and with the barest of brush strokes Kelly Reichardt paints this picture of two friends slowly drifting apart in life that was sad and stirring. One has a wife and is soon to be a father, and the other is nice enough but hasn't gotten on track, smoking a lot of pot and getting the two of them lost. The first guy assures the second that they're still solid friends, but the latter feels him moving on, in part because of his own struggles, and goes so far as to give him an awkward back rub at the hot springs as if to force a level of intimacy that the two don't really have anymore. On the way back there are few words, just passing images out the window at night that fit the melancholy of the film perfectly, and I got the sense that despite what they say about calling one another, it may be years before they ever see each other again, if ever. Moving on in life is sometimes inevitable, but there's an extra sense of sadness here because one of the two is a bit lost, a situation which really hit home for me personally because of a friend I once knew (a guy who never made it past being lost). Reichardt puts in a few other nice touches in the talk radio clips we hear, reflecting issues in American politics and life still relevant today. Really, just a lovely little film, and a near miss for a higher rating.

In Kelly Reichart's Old Joy, two thirty-something males who live in the Pacific Northwest reunite for a day-and-a-half trip by car and on foot to a hot spring in Oregon's Cascade Mountains and discover some hours of peace and mutual solitude. It seems that the years have separated them. Once great friends, they haven't been in touch for a while. They aren't the same guys they were and perhaps haven't much in common any more. The stocky, balding, bearded, single Kurt (Will Oldham) is a semi-hippie living marginally who smokes a lot of grass. Mark (Daniel London) is thin and married and both he and his pregnant wife work hard at their jobs. But Reichart is too unemphatic, and her understated dialogue is too naturalistic, for this implied discovery of lost friendship to have any drama, or for the differences between the two men to have any clear point. This is good film-making, but it seems almost at cross purposes with itself.

The colors are rich, the camera is precise, the sounds are finely recorded. The trip is meticulously observed. Reichart sees her little piece of ivory through a magnifying glass. The way Mark and Kurt talk seems authentic and true. They don't present back-stories, because it wouldn't be natural for them to do so -- though Kurt acknowledges Mark's daring in having a child; he says he's never done anything so "real." Mark's wife, glimpsed before the trip and overheard in cell phone conversations, seems neurotic, insecure about this dip back into Mark's pre-marital world. She may understandably feel jealous of the way, when Kurt calls and suggests the trip, Mark comes hopping.

They take Mark's better car, an old Volvo station wagon, and Kurt's directions lead them astray so at night they have to camp by what looks a bit like a dump, not really knowing exactly where they are. There's nothing to give away here. The two guys make the trip. They make it with Lucy, Mark's dog, up to the hot spring the next afternoon. And the rustic shelter set up there for bathing is as Kurt had promised, simple and lovely. Kurt has said there's not much difference between city and country now but this peaceful place belies that notion, except that when they return, their parting is quick, and Kurt is soon out and about by himself in a sleazy part of town and Mark is heading home with an Air America political talk show tuned in again just as it was when he headed out to get Kurt.

The irony is that all this meticulous observation reveals very little. When it's over, we don't know much about who these two men are. We don't know how they knew each other when younger or for how long; We don't know what Mark's job is. And it is not clear that they find each other boring, because they haven't said a lot to each other. Mark has talked a little about his father, and Kurt has told a long story at the hot spring about shopping for a notebook and a dream he just had that provides the title. In his dream a woman told Kurt that "sorrow is nothing but worn-out joy." Is the joy of Mark and Kurt's old friendship worn out and turned to sorrow? NYTimes critic Manohla Dargis, who wrote this week that this is "one of the finest American films of the year," says that at their parting, "from the way Kurt looks at Mark, it seems clear he knows there won't be another reunion." Seems, perhaps; but it isn't really clear. And this is the weakness of Reichart's understated method: it's so subtle, and in its construction so minimal, it risks not really saying anything. Nature and the urban world speak clearly in Reichart's film, but there's a substratum of feeling and experience that finds no voice.

Shown at various film festivals, including San Francisco, and released in Portland, Oregon in August and New York City (Film Forum) in September 2006.

Everyone has been there, had a really close friend when growing up and somehow lost contact only to meet up years later to find that you have taken different paths and it's become a little awkward. You still have your past but as time has moved on you've grown apart. It's an age old story but in this instance told so beautifully against the backdrop of the Oregon woods. Mark (Daniel London) and Kurt (Will Oldham) are the old friends reunited in their weekend camping trip of walking, talking, smoking pot and drinking beer. Along with Mark's dog they venture into the lush forest to look for a set of natural springs that Kurt remembers from a few summers ago. The dynamism between the two characters is great and the casting of Oldham as the kind of drop-out figure against Mark's soon to be dad with his newly found family responsibility is perfect. The soundtrack is hauntingly complimentary to the camera work and overall style and its no surprise that it's done by Yo La Tengo a band known for their sweeping instrumental pieces and at times because the dialogue is so sparse it often feels like your watching one of their videos punctuated by spoken inserts, which is no bad thing. Essentially Old Joy is one of those films where not a lot really happens, there is amazing scenery, comical conversational sections, a moving if very light story about human nature and life and a kind of lament on lost friendships and strange unspoken love. At just over an hour this little American tale unfolds with an exquisite subtlety and not only is it a joy to watch, it also makes you feel kind of warm inside. What a brilliantly rare little movie.

When was the last time you relaxed at a movie? That's not the same as saying you relaxed WITH a movie, but that the movie itself relaxed you. A simple and subtle difference in tune with this simple and subtle film where the small touches and gentle silences speak more than any plotting or dialog.

OLD JOY is a true anomaly in today's market. During the heyday of the Studio era, it wasn't unusual to see films that were as short as OLD JOY's 76 minutes, in fact, they were often shorter. Today, only a few animated films and truncated/butchered films are ever this short.

In a way, all of the effusive praise the film has gotten can be counter-productive in that expectations are elevated, and audiences may expect something more heavily plotted or profound. Based on a short story, this is a sort of short feature. In literature, the short form has its own limitations and virtues that they don't necessarily share with novels. Film is more tangible, and OLD JOY can be experienced as a slice of life - a moment in time (here for a couple of friends). We are simply asked to observe and (hopefully) reflect on the road trip we witness.

The length of the film is only the most obvious and measurable way in which OLD JOY separates it from the stream of American film, but, it is the natural grace and will to not strain for effect that truly marks it as different. Just sit back and relax.

I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if you could somehow "force" an audience who think they are about to see JACKASS or the latest Slasher film to watch OLD JOY instead (hopefully, not having to resort to CLOCKWORK ORANGE type tactics!).

This is a movie where nothing at all happens. Surprisingly that's not a really bad thing. It is the story of a short dull road trip between two old friends. Two old friends that have nothing to say to each other.

Even though this movie is only about 70 minutes long, there is a still lot of filler. The filler is pretty and quiet in a mellow sort of way. Yo La Tengo's sparse soundtrack goes perfect with the lack of dialog and lack of action. Somehow it actually sort of works.

But I got a real sense of missed opportunity with this film. The filmmaker seems to have nothing to say. While amazingly well executed, there is no real depth to this film. Maybe that's the point. Even if, it felt like it needed more.

It is a nice film to watch if you find yourself in a mellow mood. It's like watching the scenery go by from a train. If you feel like a train ride, this is a pleasant one.

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.

Two friends in their early thirties meet to renew their previous friendship on a camping trip in the gorgeous Cascade Mountains of Oregon. Kurt (Will Oldham) is a balding free spirit, while Mark (Daniel London) is a working man who is about to take on the responsibility of being a father. Both men seek to recreate the magic that once brought them together but their connection is now so tenuous and their worlds so divided that it seems as if there is no longer anything to hold onto, even memory.

Kelly Reichardt's superb Old Joy is a film of rare beauty unburdened by typical male-bonding clichés, more the "big chill out" than The Big Chill. While it is the story of male friendship, it is not about plot or even character but a film of mood and atmosphere that tells its story with gestures, expressions, and silences punctuated by the ambient sounds of nature. On their drive through pristine countryside to the music of Yo La Tengo, Mark listens to Air America talk radio bemoaning the state of the Democratic Party and talks about how his father decided to leave his mother when he turned seventy but nothing is said about what the two shared together in the past.

When Kurt fails to find the turnoff to the Bagby Hot Springs near Oregon's Mount Hood, the two (three if you include the dog) spend the night at an abandoned campsite, prompting Kurt to remark that "there are trees in the city, and garbage in the forest, so what is the difference?" At the campsite, Kurt relates his experiences of recent trips to Big Sur and Ashland which he calls "transcendent" and "life-changing" and about how he took a course in physics but knew more than the professor and volunteers his theory that the universe is enclosed in a tear that is falling and has been for millennia, but Mark seems to hardly notice.

He only perks up when he receives phone calls on his cell from his pregnant wife (Tanya Smith) who had only given grudging consent to the trip, sensing that the pot smoking Kurt was not a good influence. The next day they reach the springs and enjoy a moment of peace in the hot tub but it is interrupted by Kurt's telling Mark how much he misses him and how something is wrong with their relationship which Mark denies but the sense is that something has been lost forever.

Nothing really happens in Old Joy. There are almost no peak dramatic moments but almost every scene has subtle undertones of meaning. A sense of loss permeates the film, the loss perhaps of a time when people were connected and fighting for a cause meant human involvement rather than the distancing of today's radio talk shows or anonymous Internet message boards. When the aging hippie shares a Chinese proverb that "Sorrow is nothing but worn out joy", it feels as if the film becomes a metaphor for the joy that seems to be wearing out in an age approaching its zero point.

Alluring film for the scenery and original music, full of homo-erotic suggestions that don't develop. Is our married protagonist ultimately unfulfilled with his very pregnant, seemingly resentful and hurt wife? Is his independent expressive friend reaching out to embrace him in a brotherly love that could be consummated in physical passion? The camera-work is brimming with repressed sensuality. The script is intentionally sparse and ultimately unfulfilling. It is redeemed by the lyrical greenery if you haven't had a camping trip in a long time. It is too bad that the substance of these two men's friendship and history is not more fully explored, as we have no idea what they experienced or shared together.

I had to check this page just to make sure that I was not the only clod who thought this film was a fraud. I am so relieved to read the other comment; one which I could have written myself. Without a POV, or a real purpose, this film could have been made by anyone at all given a car and a camera. That is not to say the camera work wasn't good, because at times the composition and framing were great, but the images did not speak outside the frame. If this had been made as a short, it could have worked quite nicely, but filmmakers need to respect the audience of whom they are asking a substantial time commitment. I am not sure how Will Oldham got involved in this project, but he deserves a much better "vehicle" for his fine talent.

Yes there are some spoken lines in Kelly Reichardt's 'Old Joy', but in reality, the film is about the silences that ornament so much of the film's running time. It is about what's not said by the characters instead of what's actually said. This is a very poignant depiction of two old friends with very different present lives and who have gradually strayed away from each other over time, coming together one last time to silently celebrate and bid farewell to past memories. The film very sensitively portrays the transition that a man has to go through at a specific stage in life. Being a man in my 20s, this film hit me hard as there is a very noticeable sense of suppressed melancholy that permeates almost every shot which I can completely relate with. The fact that this was made by a woman further underlines why the gender of the artist doesn't matter as long as he/she has a deep understanding of the human condition. Big Recommendation.

No, this is not an example of a subtle film-making. It is an attempt to mask all the film-making idleness with pretense of meaning that exists everywhere but inside those sad 76 minutes (barely over the minimum for a feature).

And that time span is mostly filled with a meaningless b-roll, something that can easily be mystified into "thinking space for audience" - but unfortunately does little more than to show the incompetence for using those moments creatively. The rest (which could easily fit into a 20-30 min short, and would probably end up as such if edited by anybody other than director herself) consists of dialogs without any duty to really say anything. Little that we know about the characters isn't conveyed here either. The dialog only states their miscommunication.

I was left puzzled after watching, by the utmost absence of any kind of comment, or statement, or even a direction of thinking. So I went to hear what filmmakers have to say in the commentary bonus track on the DVD. To my further shocking disappointment, they have to say - nothing. I felt nobody there cared to say anything, nor did they say anything of any substance, and the "commentary" track runs quiet for 95% of the runtime.

Not only can I strongly state that reading the plot of this film here on IMDb will give you more than actually watching this film, but I have an equally definite and disturbing impression that the creators of this make-believe artifact never were nor will be able of making anything substantial or meaningful. Sorry.

The only thing bringing that 2nd star on are few interesting visual moments (things happen even in the boredom of the dentist waiting room), due to some nice camera compositions. Certainly not enough to sustain the interest and meaning more than 2 minutes in total.

Kelly Reichardt's second feature film is aptly lumped in with the 'mumblecore' crowd of independent films that have improvisational dialog (or maybe, more than Cassavetes, that people just make s*** up on the spot on set) and a kind of anything-goes attitude towards the story. This isn't to say that Old Joy doesn't have a place it's going towards, since it's so short a feature as to not have a lot of place to roam... at least, not from its main trajectory, which is that two friends in their thirties- one a father-to-be with an anxious wife and the other a stoner with a lot of dreams and physics information- go to the woods in Oregon and hang out. It's not hyperbole to say that 'nothing happens', though I'm sure there are a lot of things going on under the surface, in-between what is said, and in those pauses Reichardt takes to film nature.

In other words, it's kind of like Ozu-lite, only with its meaning being not as easy to read really. A lot of audiences and critics find more than, frankly, I could find in it. If you do see a whole plethora of meditative brilliance in it, I'm genuinely happy for you with your experience. And if you curse it to hades I understand as well. For me, it was somewhere in the middle. The cinematography is gorgeous, even when its just driving along and shooting the outside woods or Oregon city-scape at night, and the Yo la Tengo music evokes a kind of somber-but-cool spirit that works well for the material. Perhaps I was hoping, yes even with a 'minimalist' mumblecore movie, that more *there* was there. What else is there to these two guys except the possibility that they might see each other a little less now that one is having a kid and the other goes amblin' around?

A friend of mine laid it down even better for me, in an odd way: it's kind of like a video game, where it's more about the architecture of things, be it the woods or just the low-rent areas in Oregon that Reichardt filmed, with the soundtrack being either moody guitar or angry political dialog on the radio. I really do appreciate the effort of the filmmaker, in its own way its even ambitious to be so simple with things. But at the same time I wish there was more *there* there with the characters, their conflict, which was not a problem with Reichardt's follow-up Wendy & Lucy - and that was just a girl and her dog!

It is nice to see a film that doesn't spoonfeed its audience information to help us understand what's going on, but there is also such a thing as not giving us enough information, as well. Old Joy is a very short film (a mere 76 minutes long) about two old friends (Will Oldham and Daniel London) who go on a day and a half long camping trip in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. We observe, as flies on the wall, the interactions of these two, and it's our job to parcel out the things we learn and try to make something out of all of it. There's just enough information to keep me interested, but in the end, I think I decided that there's just not enough to make me care too much. This is more like Gerry than it is like My Dinner with Andre, but it lacks the beautiful artistic abstraction of Gus Van Sant's film. And the weird homoerotic scene at the end just felt odd and misplaced. I think much as heterosexual men like to imagine that pretty girls all have a little lesbian in them, some heterosexual women fantasize that any two buddies would screw each other if they found themselves alone and naked.

Guidelines for a review require a minimum of 10 lines of text. As if anything less than 10 lines can't sum things up. In case of "Old Joy, I'd have to bend over backwards to meet these requirements, which is exactly what I'm doing with this extended intro. Anyway, my girlfriend, who has a great nose for tiny treasures, was ten minutes into "Old Joy" when I joined her on the couch to watch it. It proceeded to suck me in. When it was over, I realized it was the greatest movie I'd ever seen. It still is. Don't ask me why. If you're someone who needs to be able to explain a movie in order to like it, don't watch it. That's not the way joy works, old or new.

Two childhood friends (one with his first child on the way; the other unmarried) go camping together in this deliberately paced independent drama from Kelly Reichardt. On paper, the plot of 'Old Joy' is quite minimal, but there are a wealth of ideas addressed. Most prominent is the way nature has changed since the friends were young, with one commenting "you can't get real quiet anymore" while the other rues the fact that "there's trees in the cities and garbage in the forest" nowadays. Almost equally prominent though is the idea of changing friendships and how these two souls -- who were near identical in outlook and interests in their youths -- are now such different grown adults. There is also some suggestion that the unmarried friend likes other as more than just a friend, but this is not particularly well developed. The constant politically charged radio broadcasts as they drive along also comes across as underdeveloped, and while there is definitely a lot of interest going on here, the high points are quite far between. This is certainly not a film for all tastes, but the with the quality of the lead performances (where a lot is implied rather than stated out loud) and the unconventional yet oddly poetic ending, this is a difficult film to dislike. One does have to be in the mood though because it is very slow paced even if it provides a lot to ponder afterwards.

which is exactly what this film is supposed to be. Boring? Not a chance, unless of course you're a fan of what film has unfortunately become; chaotic cross cuts of meaningless images.

The soundtrack, the acting, the direction and scenery all add to this beautiful, intimate story about two friends trying to find solace in this chaos we call life.

Too many films today think high powered story lines, which generally equal meaningless dialogue make for an interesting film, which couldn't be farther from the truth.

It's about time we let film be film by allowing the images to tell the story.

Don't miss it. This is a nice, rare gem.

An intentionally tiny but lackluster film suffers many familiar trappings harbored by independent cinema despite the gentle pacing and authentic feel throughout. It is a film I dislike disliking, having so many of the lingering qualities that let each scene breathe on it's own time, something I highly respect and usually don't witness, especially coming from American filmmakers. But here, Old Joy unwisely fills much of the silence and sacredness with nothing but scenery and vague suggestion, which unfortunately totals up to little more then the glorified road trip it seems to be. You get the feeling throughout that director Kelly Reichardt wished to plunge viewers headfirst into experiencing this brief trek into the woods. At first, this technique flourishes with completely immersed realism, effortlessly making viewers the third participant on this little expedition with finely calculated, low budget camera integrity that feels as one with the actors. However, it eventually becomes apparent that this enticingly voyeuristic direction remains a simple distraction in working around a script of very little worth.

Though there may be more implied in the work then what is outwardly manifested, Old Joy still leaves entirely too much up to viewers with it's slightly offensive approach at telling less, meaning more, but hardly putting in the effort to bridge that gap. By the movie's ending, clocking in at a strikingly short 76 minutes, it seems hardly anything was accomplished short of beginning to articulate the meaning of it's title. With a little more character development and an outcome that actually had something to say, Old Joy could have been the lazy westerners Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter..and Spring with all of it's meditative and reverential odes to nature, but here we are left only with a skeleton script and an overindulgence of quiet contemplation to make up for it.

The only two characters really in the film, Will Oldham and Daniel London, are decent enough as the two old friends who reunite for a weekend in the woods. Alt-country sensation Oldham may not have the timing of a professionally trained actor, but it ends up working out fine for this project, only bringing a more realistic credibility in the rare instances he is actually explaining himself. The constant feeling of something more being implied then what we have been given to work with is inescapable though, and ends up sinking this potentially effecting film into a mediocre, if slightly hypnotic, insignificant vacation piece.

I had no idea what this film was about other then the short description in the Cable Guide. I anticipated smaller version of the buddy-film genre and figured if it wasn't worth watching it would get erased after 10 minutes. But I was drawn in within that first 10 minutes. Perhaps not everyone will understand the film, as some of the other comments posted here suggest. But if you have ever had a good friend and lost them to time this is a bittersweet retelling of that tale. It's true the dialog is sparse but that is because to make it more specific and verbose would not let the viewer blend what's happening in the film with what has happened in their own life, it would just be another impersonal film about others. To those of us who have been there, we are part of this film.

On an entertainment scale, 'Old Joy' is right up there with watching grass grow. In Kelly Reichardt's painfully dull sophomore feature, not much happens. The premise is basically this -- two old friends go on a camping trip and talk about their family, swim, smoke weed and talk about philosophy. One of the friends is a married man, Mark (Daniel London) and the other is a hairy, balding and unquestionably pathetic washed-up hippie by the name of Kurt (Will Oldham).

Techincally speaking, 'Old Joy' is a well-made film. The cinematography is neat, the dialogue although boring is realistic and the acting is solid. Oldham and London are both decent in their roles, and the two have great screen chemistry. But for the average viewer, there is little to like about this inexcusably tedious exercise. The film's gratuitous drawn-out shots of nature gets to be tiresome, annoying and dare I say a bit pretentious. If you enjoy watching grass grow, get ready for the thrill-ride of the decade! Grade: B-

This is a current offering on Criterion Channel 2023. Pretty basic road trip story. But beautiful and some of the finest camera work (for a budget like this) that I have ever seen. It is like the camera is an extension of the directors body. Oregon location adds a moodiness and feel to the story. The dog is wonderful. So glad I stumbled on this short little gem of a movie. The camping scenes felt real. The camping gear was real - not some new stuff from REI bought for the shoot. Lots of little subtle details that make it feel like the finest home movie ever shot and I mean that in the nicest way possible.