Review of Old Joy (2006) by Frances S — 14 Sep 2007

I pretty much only saw Old Joy cause Will Oldham is in it, envisaging something Bush-wandery but pretentious, such as Dead Man. But actually it's something entirely different. The movie is slow, and sometimes relaxing.

It has a strange pace though, which the director explained by saying they used a particular camera designed for small spaces such as cars but can only shoot five minutes of film at a time. So they basically had to shoot a slow movie with fast film, if that makes sense.

And it somehow works. It seems representative of that side of America that I got to know through American zines, my early obsession with grunge lit, and various American friends. Little independent movies from the late 90s, Bruno comics.

That quaint America that lives in the Northwest or Midwest, has progressive values, likes indie rock, goes to comic book stores and thrift stores. It's that America, on a bushwalk, while meanwhile on the radio, in the real world (Washington), the small l liberal social mores are unravelling rapidly.

And if we are, in fact, the polito-cultural 51st state of America, then I totally get it. At first I thought the movie irresponsibly advocated escape, then I realised it's about the ineptitude of liberals in making any way through this global moral catastrophe that is happening.

In the Q&A, the writer/director said something like this, which I immediately scribbled down. "It's so easy to feel right, right now. Driving around at night, listening to Air America, almost feels like an activity, but actually I'm not doing shit.

We're not doing shit. This movie is about lost liberals.".