OLD JOY (2006)

Cast

Plot

Two estranged friends, Kurt and Mark, reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade mountain range east of Portland, Oregon. For Mark, the weekend outing offers a respite from the pressure of his imminent fatherhood, for Kurt it's part of a long series of carefree adventures. As the hours progress and the landscape evolves the twin seekers move through a range of subtle emotions, enacting a pilgrimage of mutual confusion, sudden insight, tension and recurring intimations of spiritual battle. 'Old Joy' is a remarkable film; where it begins for the characters is roughly where it ends, hardly a scene goes by when a spliff isn't rolled, long periods of little dialogue and a camera that can linger on an almost static image for minutes work perfectly to provide the viewer with an almost total immersion in the stoner ethos.