{"product_id":"0738329050429-old-joy","title":"Old Joy","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePRODUCT DESCRIPTION \u003cbr\u003e A true American independent film (Boston Globe), Kelly Reinhardt's achingly exquisite Old Joy has been hailed at film festivals worldwide for it's unparalleled beauty, profound insight into the human condition and transcendent, meditative narrative, creating \"a shared adult experience of lost possibilities and present realities\" (Entertainment Weekly). Based on Jonathan Raymond's short story and featuring a soundtrack from Yo La Tengo, Reinhardt's second feature chronicles a short camping trip by two old friends to a quasi-mystical oasis, the Bagby Hot Springs, in Oregon's lush Cascade Mountains. The actors in this Cain-Abel story are Kurt (cult musician Will Oldham), a post-hippie with never-present promise; and Mark (Daniel London), the father-to-be, intent on putting the Kurt part of his life behind him, but also silently nostalgic for a more carefree, radical past. Far more than a lo-fi indie riff on Brokeback Mountain, the intricately layered Old Joy is in part an elegy for the '70s American cinematic revolution - with shades of Easy Rider and the Oregon-shot Five Easy Pieces - but also fits square into the minimalism of present-day art house cinema. A gorgeous nature film, Old Joy is sensatory and full of room for interpretation. Reinhardt considers what it means to be free in Bush's America, throws two kinds of individual freedom together, watches the muted sparks fly and hopes for common ground, creating \"one of the finest American films of the year\" (New York Times). \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e AMAZON \u003cbr\u003e Based on a 50-page script by Jon Raymond, and shot in ten days, Old Joy has a quiet energy that propels it further in its simplicity than many big budget movies. Director Kelly Reichardt, a former assistant on early Todd Haynes films, has enlisted Haynes as an executive producer and Yo La Tengo for soundtrack, lending Old Joy a hipness that it exploits to reveal the relationship between the two main characters. Mark (Daniel London) leaves his pregnant wife, Tanya, at home for an excursion into the woods with his hippified buddy, Kurt (Will Oldham). Leaving Portland in Mark's Volvo, with dog in tow, Kurt smoke bowls while Mark navigates into the Cascades backcountry, where the two get temporarily lost then camp until morning, for a hike to paradisiacal Bagby Hot Springs. Slight tension arises out of their divergent lifestyles. Mark's a liberal yuppie, while Kurt's easy drifting underpins his idealism. In key scenes, Kurt verbalizes his fears that the two old friends are losing intimacy. But Kurt's sweetness, for example when he asks, \"Is it cool if I sleep in the tent with you?\" or massages Mark's shoulders, overrides any real conflict. Cuts to birds chirping, slugs crawling, and campfires raging also relax the viewer as illustrations of the forest's healing power. More a meditation than a packed adventure film, some may find Old Joy slow and meandering, while others will enjoy this pace as precisely the film's point. --Trinie Dalton\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40985009356897,"sku":"0738329050429","price":8.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/f9098a5c0a23804165f9864661537a78.jpg?v=1695055818","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/0738329050429-old-joy","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}