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!

"Old Joy" is the kind of indie film that gives indie films a bad name.

Writer/director Kelly Reichart (who made the more recent and far more compelling film "Wendy and Lucy") concocts roughly 20 minutes of actual story material and then has to come up with another hour of footage so that her movie can qualify as a feature length film. Therefore, we're treated to every indie movie cliché in the book; the most egregiously abused of these is the long static shot of a landscape or an inanimate object, which Reichart uses every three minutes and which feels like exactly what it is -- filler.

The film tells the by now all-too familiar story of two friends who've drifted apart and reconnect for a camping trip on which they try to recapture some of the happiness they feel has disappeared with their younger selves. Of course the married friend feels stifled by a wife and imminent baby (since when has a movie ever suggested that marriage and children can be fulfilling and rewarding life experiences?) while the other friend hasn't allowed himself to be tied down by any responsibilities at all and feels adrift. The actors aren't good at all, and can't convey any of the subtext Reichart clearly thinks her film is full of.

For a very similar but much better film that DOES have good acting and characters that inspire feelings in the viewer other than mere impatience, see the mumble-core movie "Humpday."

Grade: D

There is a moment in this short little independent film that crystallizes the message: the camera captures the sure but almost imperceptible progress of a slug making its way across a forest leaf with all the sounds of nature as the musical background. From all of the hype that is spread across the cover of this DVD we are to believe that this is the finest independent film of the year, 'shimmering with excellence'. Perhaps for some it will be that.

The very sparse script was written by Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt (who also directs),the story being a couple of days camping trip between two old friends Mark (Daniel London) and Kurt (Will Oldham) who have become estranged by circumstances: Mark has married and is expecting his first child while Kurt remains trapped in the hippie generation, meandering through life without direction. The two leave Portland, Oregon with Mark's dog and head for the Cascades where they plan to soak in the hot springs. Kurt is the navigator, manages to get them lost, then recoups and the two spend a night of discussion by a campfire followed by a day at the hot springs: they return home to their separate lives, the 'old joy' of their previous friendship seems to remain in the past.

Most of the 76 minutes of the film is silent landscapes while the two are driving. There is very little dialog and what there is seems strained by the years that separate the once hearty friendship of the two men: it seems we are to believe that the silences and spare words have great significance, but it takes more than a little patience to paste it together into a story. A few gestures are made in an attempt to connect the two again, but they fail to ignite. The acting is monochromatic, the direction is flaccid, but the beauty of the Cascades makes up for a lot. It is a simple, short, plodding little film that may please some and may (honestly) bore most.