Popular reviews

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★ 2

  Kelly gave a shoutout to all the fellas out there that have tried their best to reanimate an obviously long-dead friendship and failed miserably. Very beautiful to look at, very painful to watch.

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  Review by Karst ★★★★½ 8

  I didn’t think movies like this could work this well? Wasn’t aware that was allowed but apparently it totally is and that’s a nice thing to know. Loved how everything was framed. I mean from the shot of him pulling out of the driveway to the shot of a hand in a bath, it was all great. I love Yo La Tengo and had no idea they were a part of this so that was a pleasant surprise. Honestly? Loved it all. I’ve also had a lot of weird connections that had some quiet similarities to what happened here. I think I’m gonna love Kelly Reichardt!

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  Review by Wes ★★★★★ 1

  "Sorrow is nothing but worn out joy."

  the churches near the gas station, rusty bridges paving the way over an endless chasm of river beneath, so much green you feel like you could be happy never seeing that color again; kelly reichardt films the pacific northwest against the backdrop of a disappointing, bittersweet, all too real situation so perfectly, it's like certain memories of mine as a 10 year old were lifted directly and put on a film splicer. composed in such a way that every speck of grain feels planned and nothing is left to chance, and it's almost as intoxicating watching the film as much as watching a film made by somebody who so clearly knows what shes doing, how much of a grasp she has on what to film and when, where, and how to film it. better than people.

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  Review by fran hoepfner ★★★★ 1

  no one does no talking like Kelly does no talking

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  Review by kailey ★★★★★ 3

  the feeling of your head resting against the glass pane of the car, your almost-friend awkwardly clearing his throat in the seat beside you, the trees standing silent in your wake.

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  Review by Karst ★★★★★

  wet toast

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  Review by Jacob ★★★★★ 6

  "I miss you, Mark. I miss you really, really bad. I want us to be real friends again. There's something between us and I don't like it. I want it to go away."

  Nobody so-perfectly captures the feeling of being in a particular space as Kelly Reichardt. She operates primarily in stationary shots, relying on sophisticated, artful compositions that give a great deal of dimensionality to each image and where characters are placed in the frame. She truly gets the most out of every location, capturing multiple shots of car-interiors and point-of-view shots looking out the window, and leaves in the foreground and background between the main characters when their in a new setting, the natural sounds subtle yet ever-present.…

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  Review by reibureibu ★★★★½ 11

  Reconnecting with an old friend after your lives have gone different ways looking for that old friendship but finding only shadows of it there. Occasionally certain phrases bring that 'old friend' out but it's more a remembrance than it is a presence; dwelling on old memories prevents one from making new ones and no matter how nice it is to remember the good old days that's an existence inherently stuck in time with no future. Change is scary, and uncertain, and uncomfortable, and unclear, but once it happens there's nothing we can do. That old friend is gone, but now a new one in their place. May as well find in them a new joy.

  
  (watched with my closest friends i've known for a decade right after discussing plans this year to go hiking)

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  Review by lauren ★★★★★ 1

  bro can i give you a massage and tell you about my dreams and reminisce with you and love you, no homo

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  Review by Lucy ★★★★½ 3

  oh... i FELT that 😔

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  Review by 🌻 lindsay 🌻 ★★★½ 5

  I really don’t know if I would have appreciated this movie at any earlier point in my life but seeing it now really worked for me. Because as you go through your life, friends just kind of fade in and out constantly and it remains harder and harder to keep that contact with ones who have been left behind. 

  And then when you do try, it’s still there and they’re still there but it’s just slightly off. You can reminisce and catch up but it just feels like there’s a barrier keeping you from feeling the connection that you once felt to this person. And that’s probably just because you’ve both grown and you’ve grown separately but it still kind…

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  Review by nick ★★★★½

  Old Joy uncannily reminds me of Brokeback Mountains, due to its meditative, rueful sentiments, as well as its (debatable) homosexual tendency. It's a reticent, visually soothing experience that ultimately deals with the inevitable regrets in life, and the old joy from the past that we simply cannot go back to. In some ways it's my favorite Kelly Reichardt work so far.

  Chronicling two friends' camping trip amid their respective midlife crisis, Old Joy feels both down-to-earth and mythical at the same time, as we witness the mundane yet occasionally philosophical moments that pepper this quite life-altering journey for both of them. It's as uneventful as can be, saves the hot spring scene where the only surprising turn of events happens…