Old Joy
Director: Kelly Reichardt
Year Released: 2006
Rating: 1.0
Two buddies (Daniel London and musician Will Oldham) take time to go hiking together, and while out in the woods hints of what their friendship entailed in the past - before they went separate directions - become more and more apparent. Essentially, it's a subtle version of Brokeback Mountain without the histrionics and screaming wives, and somewhat shallow, following the common art-house rule of parsing out tiny pieces of information, not having the characters say very much (Oldham the stoner muses about the universe and stuff, man, while London hardly has any lines) and letting the audience fill in the blanks. A much more compelling and humorous showcase in friends coming to terms with their feelings for each other was made by Christopher Münch in his little-seen The Hours and Times.
