Old Joy and Fading Friendships
To say that a film's setting is its own character is no new insight. But so often that implies a primary sense of wonder, watching each frame to pick up on the intricacies that define this character. Three films (per my watches) in to Reichardt's filmography, I find there's something distinct: her films feel like home.
I moved to Seattle, having grown up in Texas, in 2014. And, while I still have something of that inherent (and frequently misdirected) pride of Texans, the Pacific Northwest has become my home. It is beloved. Watching Old Joy brought a sense of rightness, of being in a space I know, that brought with it a depth of engagement I feel with few films. I was not in awe of the setting—I knew it intimately. Watching out the windshield of their car while they sought the trailhead, I breathed deeply that same evergreen-sharpened air.
But, the film itself! Per Reichardt's wont, Old Joy is a small story that, in its atomic specificity, finds a universality that surprises and cuts deep. On the cusp of 30, I reflect a lot on my old friendships—those that trace back to middle school, and those that occurred early in my time in Seattle. Some I haven't reconnected to in years; some I still consider the most formative, yet wonder at their slippage.
Daniel London's Mark and Will Oldham's Kurt are the same as so many of us. Once connected closely, now separated by years apart and separated further by they way they each have grown (or not grown). It's a film that captures the more painful sense of disconnection that can only exist where connection once thrived.
But that's not to say it's all dour or lonely. The moments of connection amidst distance and relational strain are beautiful. The Oregon forest is beautiful. Old Joy, with all its smallness and specificity, is beautiful.
As I continue to encounter Kelly Reichardt's films, the idea of phenomenology (or even theology) of place come to mind. Perhaps she is crafting a filmography of place for future filmmakers and critics to be shaped by. If so, it would be a wonderful cultivation.
