OLD JOY

Year: 2006
USA: Kino International
UK: Soda Pictures
Cast: Will Oldham, Daniel London, Tanya Smith, Robin Rosenberg, Keri Moran, Matt McCormick, Jill Wieseneck, Steve Doughton, Autumn Campbell, Darren Prolsen
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Country: USA
USA: 76 mins
UK: 73 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language
USA Release Date: 2 February 2007 (Limited Re-release - New York)
USA Release Date: 20 September 2006 (Limited Release - New York)
UK Release Date: 26 January 2007 (Limited Release - London, Curzon Soho)

Synopsis

Two long time friends, Kurt (Will Oldham) and Mark (Daniel London) get together for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade mountain range east of Portland, Oregon. OLD JOY is a minimalist story of friendship, loss and alienation in the Bush era. For Mark, the weekend outing offers a break from the pressure of his impending fatherhood; for Kurt, it is part of a long series of carefree adventures.

As the trek progresses, the twin seekers move through a range of subtle emotions, enacting a pilgrimage of mutual confusion, sudden insight and recurring imitations of spiritual battle. Arriving at their final destination which is a hot spring in the middle of a forest, they must either confront the different paths they have taken or try and transcend their growing tensions and forgive each other.