''Old Joy'' is a 2006 American road movie written and directed by

Kelly Reichardt Kelly Reichardt (; born March 3, 1964) is an American film director and screenwriter. She is known for her minimalist films closely associated with slow cinema, many of which deal with working-class characters in small, rural communities. Reich ...

and based on a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Jonathan Raymond Jonathan Raymond is an American writer living in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for writing the novels ''The Half-Life'' and ''Rain Dragon'', and for writing the short stories and novels adapted for the films ''Old Joy'', ''Wendy and Lucy'', ...

. The original soundtrack for the film is by Yo La Tengo and included on the compilation soundtrack album ''

They Shoot, We Score ''They Shoot, We Score'' is a compilation soundtrack album by the band Yo La Tengo, released on September 5, 2008. It contains tracks from the films '' Old Joy'' (2006), '' Junebug'' (2005), '' Game 6'' (2005) and ''Shortbus'' (2006). "Spec Bebo ...

''.

Plot

''Old Joy'' tells the story of two friends, Kurt and Mark, as they reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade mountain range and

Bagby Hot Springs The Bagby Hot Springs are natural hot springs located in the Mount Hood National Forest about southeast of Portland, Oregon, United States and about east of Salem, Oregon. The springs are within the Cascade Mountains in a heavily forested are ...

, east of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Kurt lives a hand-to-mouth hippie lifestyle, while Mark has moved on from that scene and gotten a proper job and a house. The film is a story of friendship, loss and alienation. For Mark, the weekend outing offers a respite from the pressure of his imminent fatherhood. Tagging along for the ride is Lucy, Mark's dog.

Critical reception

''Old Joy'' received favorable reviews from critics. The review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported that 85% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 94 reviews — with the consensus that "a serene, melancholy beauty permeates this meditative film."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

reported the film had an average score of 84 out of 100, based on 24 reviews. ''The'' ''New York Times'' called it "one of the finest American films of the year". The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2006. *2nd - Ella Taylor, ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'' *4th - Marc Mohan, '' Portland Oregonian'' *4th - Scott Tobias, ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' *4th - Ty Burr, ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' *8th - Lisa Schwarzbaum, ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' *10th - Wesley Morris, ''

'' The film also won awards from the

Los Angeles Film Critics Association The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is an American film critic organization founded in 1975. Background Its membership comprises film critics from Los Angeles-based print and electronic media. In December of each year, the organiza ...

, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and the Sarasota Film Festival.

Neil Kopp Neil Kopp (born 1979) is an American film, commercial and music video producer best known for his work on the films '' Old Joy'' (2006) and '' Paranoid Park'' (2007). Life and career Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Kopp attended the Vancouve ...

won the Producer's Award at the

Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with Poly(methyl m ...

for his work on ''Old Joy'' and '' Paranoid Park''. In reviewing The Criterion Collection's Blu-ray release of the film, critic Svet Atanasov of Blu-ray.com was disappointed with ''Old Joy'', stating that though Reichardt is a gifted director, " he filmis so introverted that it quickly creates the impression that it wishes to be left alone.... instead of bringing the viewer closer to the campers the film essentially gives them more space to figure out how they feel about their friendship and lives."

References

External links

* *
''The New York Times'' review
by Dennis Lim
''Old Joy: Northwest Passages''
an essay by

Ed Halter Ed Halter is a film programmer, writer, and founder of Light Industry, a microcinema in Brooklyn, New York. He currently teaches at Bard College, where he is Critic in Residence. Criticism His writing has been featured in ''Artforum'', '' The ...

at The Criterion Collection * ''Old Joy'' script
HTML
an
PDF
at Scripts.com
2006 Reichardt interview
at ''Reverse Shot'' — Themes, politics, characters, filming, influences, music. {{Kelly Reichardt 2006 films 2000s road movies American road movies Films based on short fiction Films directed by Kelly Reichardt Films set in Oregon Films shot in Oregon Films shot in Portland, Oregon Films shot in 16 mm film 2006 independent films 2000s buddy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films