Old Joy

In Kelly Reichardt’s OLD JOY, Mark and Kurt head into the Oregon woods in search of a remote hot spring. Relying on an outdated road map and faded memories, they lose their way. Yet the physical wandering is merely an excuse to map the emotional distance between them. Where and when exactly did these two old friends drift apart?

Former hippie Mark has since settled into a stable life, while Kurt still drifts from couch to couch. During their trek into the deep green, the toll of time becomes palpable. “I want us to be real friends again,” a drunk and stoned Kurt confesses by the campfire. His companion is caught off guard and offers a hollow reassurance: “Everything’s fine with us. Totally fine.” But is it?

OLD JOY is a fragile, minimalist portrait of male friendship and the inevitable passage of time. Reichardt captures the melancholy of thirty-somethings realizing that “sorrow is nothing but worn-out joy.” A quiet, contemplative film about the longing for what used to be.