Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy (2006) is a film I hold close to my heart, primarily for its meditations on men’s struggles with emotional openness and shared vulnerability. Neither Mark (Daniel London) nor Kurt (Will Oldham) perfectly fit a traditional masculine mold characterized by dominance/success in the home, workplace, and among peers. In fact, as E. Dawn Hall writes, “Reichardt asks spectators to fill in the blanks, causing a constant struggle throughout the film, for most American audiences, to categorize Kurt and Mark’s masculinity” (66). However, while neither man explicitly asserts himself in the way a traditional patriarch would, there are still moments in which the traditional patriarch comes out more subtly. For example, when Mark asks Tanya (Tanya Smith) for permission to go camping with Kurt – a seemingly submissive act – Tanya sees right through him and says, “Look, we know you’re just waiting for me to tell you to go.” Mark’s “game” involves feigning submission while exercising subtle dominance. By ostensibly giving his wife the power to determine if he goes on the camping trip, he also gives her the guilt should she refuse him a good time with his old friend. It’s manipulative, and Tanya is quick to call him out. So, again, while a traditional patriarch would simply say, “I’m going camping with Kurt this weekend,” not bothering to ask permission, the “sneaky” patriarch asserts his intentions in a way that seems almost servile but is actually similarly dominating. Mark continues to assert his masculinity in roundabout ways later in the film, such as when Kurt tells him to turn onto another road and he replies, “Really?” It’s a gentle way of questioning Kurt’s credibility and, thereby, lending further credit to Mark’s own masculinity.
Though I’ve so far discussed the ways in which Mark’s masculinity is more traditional than it might initially appear, Kurt offers up a counterpoint masculinity that diverges from the traditional in many ways. Most notably, as I alluded to at the start of this post, is Kurt’s surprising emotional openness. While the two men sit by the fire, Kurt nearly breaks down, saying, “I miss you, Mark...There’s something between us and I want it to go away.” While emotional distance is a staple of traditional masculinity, Kurt is disturbed by it rather than comforted. However, we see him subjected to traditionalist pressures when Mark insists that their relationship is “fine.” Kurt takes a moment to collect himself, then tells Mark to ignore him and that he (Kurt) must be going crazy. At least for the moment, Mark’s insistence that the emotional barrier between them doesn’t exist convinces Kurt to stay silent about this very real problem. Kurt is, in essence, caught between two competing masculinities – one more traditional, one more emotionally expressive, but both vulnerable and unstable. Hall considers this tension (i.e., Mark’s unwillingness to “open up to Kurt and show any emotional vulnerability”) the most prevalent one in the film (69). In contrast, during an interview, Reichardt describes the men’s conflict as a “competition” in which “I’m more open than you are” is the end goal (Ponsoldt). I’m skeptical that this is the case – the stakes of the “competition” seem more along the lines that Hall describes in the aforementioned quote. Kurt champions emotional openness while Mark champions his fireside sentiment that their friendship and everything else is “fine.”
While I know this post has been long, I can’t end it before I talk about my favorite scene in the film – in fact, one of my favorite scenes in any film. When Kurt massages Mark in the hot spring, Mark initially reacts with discomfort evident on his face and squirming shoulders. However, Kurt – in perhaps his most dominating moment in the whole film – continues the massage and insists that Mark relax. Thus far, Mark hasn’t reciprocated Kurt’s desire for an emotional connection, so Kurt has taken it upon himself to force Mark into one. Paradoxically, the action is at once traditionally masculine in its domination and yet something far different in the vulnerability and tenderness it leads to. The effect is simultaneously unsettling and beautiful. Perhaps I’ve gone somewhat astray in addressing our central course question, but I do think the love and money connection is present here, at least as an undercurrent. Mark mentions how overworked he is when describing his imminent fatherhood, which leads us to believe he is a work-oriented person. He is someone who rarely gets a minute to himself or his relationships, given his burdensome job duties. Thus, he has had less time to attend to his emotional and relational life than Kurt – unemployed and naturally introspective – has. Kurt’s lack of employment may cripple his success as a traditional masculine figure, as Hall points out (67), but it is his lack of focus on the world of work that allows him to get in touch with not only his own emotional issues, but those present in his relationships. Mark’s lack of emotional development – a partial result of his focus on work – is what prevents him and Kurt from developing a reciprocal love – whether platonic or romantic – for each other.
If we want to take the "money" - "love" question into consideration, here, perhaps we might want to consider how the "public" voice of the radio plays out. Why is it there to begin with?
Today our film gravitated more toward the type of love that is, arguably, more common for all: the love shared between friends, particularly old ones. While the disintegration of a romantic partnership is commonly depicted in cinema, rarely do directors tackle the issue at hand in Old Joy. Reichardt shows us the pain of growing apart from those we once shared everything with.
The dynamic between Kurt and Mark is typical: somewhere in their thirties (I assume), one of the two became a little more settled, more “solid.” Mark’s life represents the older type of life: a seemingly steady marriage, a child on the way, a perfect dog (if I may editorialize), and a well-tended garden. Kurt, on the other hand, embodies an extreme example of the liquidity of the modern day. Kurt smokes weed, wears raggedy clothes (which, until the end, you assume is just a mark of being a hipster and a Portlander), and seems to place much more value in the trip than his old buddy, Mark. None of these necessitates instability, but they do end up being small warning posts about Kurt’s fate.
At the root of the disintegration of this friendship is money. Mark is supporting a family. Kurt is (probably?) homeless, particularly based on the end of the film. The thing is, friends are the most awkward source of monetary help. Good friends feel a sense of obligation to help a buddy in need: a couch to crash on for a couple weeks between apartments, a lunch when a friend forgot their wallet, etc. However, larger sums are uncomfortable. Perhaps Kurt and Mark’s friendship would last if Kurt had been honest about their financial situation and Mark had offered to help, but perhaps it would have just been weakened even more. Ultimately, the film perhaps says that friends of a completely different financial situation have too much of a strain or an imbalance to maintain a genuine friendship.
Perhaps the nature of the friendship in Old Joy reflects something that has not changed as much in the modern world: friends with different lives gradually drift apart. However, although perhaps not the central relationship, the one between man and nature, the urban and the rural, seems to have evolved rapidly. Where the two were once, seemingly, completely separate, Kurt bleakly reminds us that the two have no blended together, as he sits on some kitschy, shitty couch in the middle of the woods in Oregon.
I would also like to briefly address Eric's commentary on the topic of men's struggles with vulnerability. This is so rarely addressed in film. My first impressions were, admittedly: Oh boy. A coupla boys doing a camp thing in the woods with Hamm's. How long before someone makes a crude joke? This movie subverted all of my preconceived notions of how male friendships are depicted in cinema, and I cannot wait to see what Reichardt does with other relationships in film. Ultimately, the inability to show vulnerability is what keeps Kurt from allowing Mark to know how desperate his financial situation truly is.
In stark contrast to our previous two films, Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy (2006), while certainly gesturing toward themes of socioeconomic difficulties that come between people, seems to concern itself more immediately with anxieties about time and lost time. From the moment they first share the screen together it's very apparent that Mark and Kurt's relationship has been strained by time; Mark is on the cusp of solidifying into a traditionally mature life with a wife and children, while Kurt is more of an existential drifter without responsibilities or commitments. While their friendship may have once been a powerful bond founded in the simple and carefree indulgences of smoking marijuana and spontaneous camping excursions, it appears that the time since then has found Mark making a move to a more traditional, stable life and Kurt continuing to live moment to moment. Mark feels bogged down by his domesticated life, made evident by the relatively common trope in the beginning of the film that finds him in a passive aggressive exchange with his wife about whether she would mind if he spent the evening camping "with the guys", as it were. His conversations with Kurt in the car about the record store that no longer exists and his father's difficulties with blood clotting in the brain and leaving his mother at 70 feel like a mixture of nostalgic escapism and a somewhat desperate attempt to make sense of the randomness of life. For Mark, time is moving at a pace that he can't keep up with, and he even admits that helping teach sixteen year olds allows him to feel closer to his youth. This is in direct opposition to Kurt's relationship with time, which is one of constant reflection and meditation that makes him see the present and not much else. This relationship to time allows him to make bizarre but weirdly profound hypotheses about the nature of the universe and why anyone should tell him how to conceptualize it, but of course inhibits him from finding any stability in his life. This ultra-free and ostensibly apathetic worldview makes the audience initially opposed to Kurt, as “his honesty and vulnerability…make him powerless in a hyper masculine society” (Hall 69), a society that Mark has apparently conformed to. Reichardt’s decision to set this collision of two friends whose worldviews have grown apart in nature feels incredibly appropriate. Especially in the scene where they finally get to experience the baths, the camera intercuts between impossibly minute yet beautiful details and gorgeous landscape shots make time feel completely still. Away from the bustle of the city, Kurt and Mark can actually work out their differences on neutral territory and actually learn from each other’s perspectives. Mark learns how to relax from Kurt, show in a very intimate scene where Kurt massages Mark at the baths, and Kurt is perhaps more aware of his loneliness in the ending scene, aimlessly looking around after Mark has returned to his wife and home.
"Away from the bustle of the city, Kurt and Mark can actually work out their differences on neutral territory and actually learn from each other’s perspectives. Mark learns how to relax from Kurt, show in a very intimate scene where Kurt massages Mark at the baths, and Kurt is perhaps more aware of his loneliness in the ending scene, aimlessly looking around after Mark has returned to his wife and home." A good take on this. In this context it perhaps also might be worth considering how, traditionally, nature/city are "gendered."
Old Joy directed by Kelly Reichardt is a film that looks at love from a different angle than the other films we have watched, but still deals with love. While Climate and Jerichow focus more on the romantic side of love, Old Joy makes a point to focus more on friendship and the love that friends feel. It is apparent in the film that Kurt and Mark have had a falling out at some point in the past, and this camp outing is an attempt to reconnect as friend. By the end of the film we still feel an awkwardness between these two characters and they both go their separate ways making unconvincing promises to stay in touch. In other words it feels as though the friendship has fallen through and there is no love between them anymore. One could argue that they simply cannot remain friends because of their societal roles being so different. For example, Reichardt In Focus states that on the back of the DVD Kurt is described as a "post hippie" and Mark is described as a "father to be" clearly separating their societal roles. This very well could be the case. Perhaps Mark has grown out of childish nature walks and smoking weed and simply doesn't feel comfortable with Kurt anymore because of this. However one thing we do know is that the film is meant to be a bit ambiguous, and Reichardt herself even said in an interview that she can see how people could walk out of the movie with different view points. So on this note I do not believe that the friendship ended because of there differences, but rather it all comes back to money. The class theme is that "love cannot exist without money" and I believe this to be the case between the friendship of Mark and Kurt. While it is not explicitly stated that Mark has money and Kurt does not, there are instances within the film that suggest this. Fist off, Mark a few different times in the film mentions how well he is doing in his job, and states that he and his wife are both working a lot. On the other hand, Kurt seems to be a drifter. He talks about all the different springs he has visited, and it even looks like he has a set up to sleep in his van. Another scene my mind goes to is when they first leave for the mountain. Even though it was Kurt's idea to go and he invited Mark, he says that his van doesn't do well in the mountains, and suggests that Mark drive. This to me states that Kurt does not have a vehicle that is in good shape, but more importantly that he is relying on Mark to pay for the gas. The final scene that shows the monetary difference between the characters is the scene in which Kurt is buying weed. Before he approaches the seller, he asks Mark for ten dollars. At first is seems as though Mark is simply chipping in for his portion, but as the movie progresses we realize that Kurt is the only one of the two that every smokes the weed. This means that Mark was not chipping in but rather Kurt didn't have enough money to buy his own weed. To bring this full circle, it is apparent that Kurt does not have any money. I believe that Reichardt is sending the message that love cannot exist without money and this is why the friendship ultimately fails.
My immediate reaction to Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy (2006) was the feeling that nothing happened. I knew something had happened - I had taken notes about the very few events that took place in the film - but it felt like nothing had. This stemmed from rolling long takes, filled with the folk-rock music of Yo La Tengo, lingering nature scenes, like a tree slug essentially doing nothing, or of the dog in the film, Lucy, wandering through the forest. One thing is for sure, Reichardt is fantastic at honoring the space, letting us come into the physicality of the location to further allow us to experience the emotional exchange between characters. This emotional exchange, the silences held during the characters’ conversations, is what I found to be the main focus, Reichardt pulling us in to what she finds most important. As Sam Littman explains, “Old Joy introduces Reichardt’s predilection for long takes and conversation scenes defined by silence more so than what is said, ennobling the mundane in a manner reminiscent of Robert Bresson.” The mundane is what is important here, because it holds the information about what this relationship has become. These two men, Mark (Daniel London), the together, soon-to-be-father, and Kurt (Will Oldham), the not-together, soon-to-be-who-knows, are both trying to reconnect with their past and in that effort are connecting instead with the present. This is displayed beautifully at the beginning of their road trip to the “it’s around here somewhere” hot springs, where the two of them are talking about old times - an old friend, who the pipe Mark brought belonged to - and Kurt glances out the window and muses, “End of an era.” The camera then follows what Kurt is gazing at and the music rolls in on this tracking shot of the scenery as they drive by. It’s the beginning of their trip, but Kurt is already realizing that this is the end of something, something between Mark and him or possibly something ending between Kurt and himself. The past is becoming the present. This circles back into my feelings after finishing the movie, that nothing happened. We watched as both of these men went on a journey together, reminiscing, one attempting to process the upcoming stage of his life, fatherhood, another grappling with the demons of getting older, and both of them return to their respective lives before the trip. Mark turns on his talk radio after dropping off Kurt, and Kurt is sadly wandering around the city. Essentially, nothing happened. These voyeuristic shots of Kurt as he moves through the city at night, in the same clothes he’s worn for three days, and then a fade up and away from him as the culmination of what has just happened, suggests that nothing was resolved. The men will not work out the “something between them” that Kurt brought up earlier, Mark will find a new rhythm because he lives in the present. Yes, something happened, but nothing changed.
Old Joy by Kelly Reichardt is a film that focuses on the love and connection of two friends Mark and Kurt. Mark and Kurt both represent different economic lifestyles. Kurt seems to be homeless and living out of his car, disorganized, and immature and an often time uses his friendship to get what he wants from Mark. This is evident when Kurt asks to use Marks car for the expedition even though Kurt coordinates this trip and Kurt is the one who knows where the hot springs are located. Kurt also asks for money from mark to buy drugs but Mark never partakes in the festivities as he is an adult and has other obligations, like his expecting wife. Kurt represents an economic freedom, as he has no job and states that he has really had no serious responsibilities especially like the one Mark is expecting. Kurt says in the movie that “everyone is so busy now” referring that all of his old friends have since grown up and moved on in their lives. This also ties into the theme of Liquidity that we have previously talked about in class. Another example of liquidity and changes in the economy that struck out to me would have to be the scene where Kurt wants to visit the old records store but the record store has since gone out of business and only sells records over the internet through EBay. This spoke to me, saying this shows an end to an era with records and that time has since moved on to a more contemporary means of selling through the Internet. The store also could represent the “small man” in the business world. A much larger juice corporation takes over the small business after the records shop is unable to pay rent, this shows that the economy is structured to enhance the power hungry corporations rather than smaller independent family owned stores. Mark represents a stable seemingly normal economic lifestyle, as he is a working family man. Even though we can clearly see that Kurt’s life is not as together as Marks, Mark still trusts Kurt. Kurt gets lost trying to find this spring and Mark is patient, stating that he trusted Kurt the whole time and never doubted him. Mark is an expecting father who looks as this trip as a nice get away from the responsibilities of his everyday life. You can see that Mark has not been away from his pregnant wife for sometime as she regularly calls and his camping gear was hidden away and looked to have not been used in awhile. My take on the talk radio would have to be that the radio talks about all these different problems in the world like racial tensions, wage issues, and budgeting with a family. Mark listens to the radio mostly and it makes me think that he is worried about how this baby may effect his family and that maybe he is not emotionally ready or financially ready. Also I think the radio talks about all the things that this camping trip doesn’t represent. The radio talks about responsibilities and obligations while the trip is lackadaisical and unorganized, just like our two characters Mark and Kurt.
The power of friendship is an interesting subject to demonstrate, the film Old Joy (2006) highlights the reconnection of two friends Mark (Daniel London) and Kurt (Will Oldham). Mark is recognized to be a well-put-together person and is the ideal man in societies picture. Kurt, on the other hand, portrays a hippie that’s free-spirited and challenges the face of society. The use of realism in the character of Kurt symbolizes the persona of life taking him on a never-ending journey. Kurt is a charismatic person but seems to have lost his enthusiasm for life. Scared about his friendship with Mark, it seems Kurt realizes that he is going off to be a good person in society. Mark being a soon to be father sets off Kurt’s relationship with him because they haven’t connected in such a long time that they are distant. Although, Kurt does show he supports Mark on his soon to be life, Mark isn’t quite sure if he is ready to uphold that kind of responsibility. E. Dawn Hall says Kurt’s character is much more complex; Kurt is described as “a real person who has flaws and can create an uneven distancing effect.”(66) Kurt’s character contains a sympathetic view when he asks Mark about their friendship and questions whether they are going to be able to keep touch. Kurt blames honesty on his pot smoking, and that being out there his sorrows show the element of feeling lonely. “The decay of their friendship”(23) seems to be the theme of the film, not knowing where the friendship will end up at the end of the movie. Kurt’s joy and freedom appear in the clothing and materials he owns. The pink t-shirt, torn jean shorts, and rugged boots bring out his character’s style. Kurt’s happy child like features comes from being around Mark. In the end, the film tells a story about Kurt’s real life and how depressing it feels, only the bond of his old friend Mark seems to bring out the joyfulness he used to attain. The connection of their friendship can be brought to attention by the radio voiceover. The liberal democratic station presents the relationship of Mark and Kurt according to E. Dawn Hall, “their relationship is symbolic of the deep divide in America as it reelected a president and continued a divisive war abroad.”(58) The liberalistic view in the film captures the way the director Kelly Reichardt feels about the future of our society moving forward.
The liberal democratic station presents the relationship of Mark and Kurt according to E. Dawn Hall, “their relationship is symbolic of the deep divide in America as it reelected a president and continued a divisive war abroad.”(58) This is a useful quotation to introduce to our conversation.
In Old Joy (2006), the relationship between Mark and Kurt, two friends trying to reconnect after losing contact, is almost portrayed as romantic with “homoerotic undertones” (Littman). Like Climate’s Isa and Bahar, we watch as Kurt and Mark’s relationship further cripples and we experience the “feelings of sorrow, unease and even dread that course through the movie like a hidden creak” (Littman). Kurt wants so badly to return to the friendship they once had, however the people they are now, are completely different from one another. While Kurt is stuck in the past, Mark, on the other hand, looks towards the future. The conversations these men have reflect this. The topics Kurt brings up are ones about people from Mark and Kurt’s past and philosophical interpretations to express his knowledge. One instance of this is when Kurt reveals that he wants to sell his records, but once he learns that their friend as gone to the Internet to sell records, Kurt seems almost saddened by this change. He also tries to show his intelligence to somehow reference their time in school and take Mark’s mind back to these memories. As for Mark, his talking points consist of topics about his family and his future baby. Mark worries about the future of his family and how he will be able to provide for them. The disconnect in their mindsets shows why the tension continually increases as they spend more time together. Kurt is unclear of what he wants or even how to be an adult, which is why he is stuck in the past. He even shows skepticism of how Mark can be a father; “despite his wariness of the duties,” Mark is content with fatherhood (Littman). Another example of Kurt’s childishness is shown through him smoking weed like they did in their past; in contrast, Mark is never shown smoking, as if to show how grown up he has become. Through this trip, it leads both men to realize how different they are and ultimately shows that this will be the last time they see one another. This is marked by their one intimate moment at the springs when Kurt massages Mark. It was almost as if they wanted one moment to fully express how their relationship once was before Kurt left for his next journey (which we see as Kurt wanders the city at the end of the movie) and before mark returned to his family. The course’s central theme of how money connects to love is also present within this film. “Through his conversations with Mark,” we can assume that Kurt has no job. He has little money, no real purpose in life, and no one with him to share his life. On the other hand, Mark has a job, a family, and love. This shows that the lack of money led Kurt into “this purgatory of endless journeying,” while Mark was able to reach his destination in life (Littman). Money in this case matters and determines the freedom and love each of the characters received. When Kurt was able to get some money and use Mark’s things, he was finally able to feel some love from Mark while at the springs. He finally gained some wealth thanks to Mark, which helped him to experience his past again, something he desired. This wealth also helped him to have one last intimate moment with Mark before they parted ways. However, after this parting, he lost his wealth and went right back into his endless journey. The director Reichardt reiterates how love and wealth are related by giving and taking Kurt’s wealth. This shows how he is cursed with an endless journey with the absence of this wealth.
I think "liquid" is an appropriate description for "Old Joy". While "Jerichow" and "Climates" felt harder and more solid to me, "Old Joy" delved into the softness and fluidity that made up the film's main atmosphere. This film is about the changes in the friendship between Mark (Daniel London), a man who seems to have his life together, and Kurt (Will Oldham), a man who seems to have nothing at all. The two men, along with Lucy the dog, embark on a journey to the mountains to visit a hidden hot spring.
Although it appears that nothing really "happens", I feel as though a tremendous amount of growth and shifting really occurred throughout the story. Throughout the film, it is obvious that there is a certain tension between Mark and Kurt-- one that cannot be removed by slipping into old ways of conversation and actions. After their first night of camping, Kurt even remarks that "Something has come between us. And I don't like it." This "thing" that has risen up between them is "[...] the decay of their friendship" (23) The decaying friendship between Mark and Kurt, two masculine identities, leaves both of them feeling powerless and sullen-- neither one of them can find the "one true thing" that will reconnect their old friendship. Once this power has been removed from them, even in the neutral territory that is the forest, they cannot seem to spark that old interest in each other that has since died out. Even after trying to get physically intimate in the hot springs, it seems as though the power to fix their friendship has been drained and dried from the both of them.
At the end of the film, Mark returns to his stable life, his eyes still holding that sad glaze from the forest, while Kurt wanders the street, still holding out hope for a shift in his world. They will get some power back-- Mark in starting a family, Kurt in following his freestyle living-- but never enough to make their friendship flow again. Reichardt feels that the future of society, including traditional power structures, is always moving and, much like liquid, it is always flowing. Things will always be shifting and changing, including the strengths and rifts of friendships and the sheer amount of power that it takes to maintain them.
"Reichardt feels that the future of society, including traditional power structures, is always moving and, much like liquid, it is always flowing." How does the film qua film (its cinematicness) communicate this?
If there is one aspect of Kelly Reichardt’s film Old Joy which garners a nearly universal consensus, it is that the film in question belongs, at least in part, to a genre known as the “road movie”. Dawn Hall, in her dissertation on American independent female filmmakers, places Reichardt’s film firmly in this category (58), as does Manohla Dargis in a New York Times review. Reichardt herself, in an interview published in Reverse Shot, acknowledges the importance of the road trip (Ortega-Rodriguez), though she is unwilling to definitively explain the characters or the meanings represented by them and their actions. The film follows two characters, Kurt (Will Oldham) and Mark (Daniel London) who are old friends that have not spent time together in what is presumably a very long time. After a surprise phone call by Kurt to Mark, the two friends decide to go camping together in the Oregon wilderness. The destination is a hot spring which Kurt has described to Mark, and much of the film involves the duo’s attempts to find the spring.
In a New York Times article, Walter Salles, notable director of contemporary road movies writes: “The earliest road movies were about the discovery of a new land or about the expansion of new frontiers . . . (I)n later decades, road movies also tried to accomplish a different task: to show national identities in transformation” (Salles, 2007). Though Reichardt prefers to remain silent when asked specific questions in terms of interpretation of her films (Ponsoldt), the road movie is uniquely suited for explorations of social transition, and this could very well be the reason Reichardt has chosen the road/journey model for her films. Specifically, in exploring the relationship between characters Kurt and Mark, Reichardt is able to simultaneously examine a broader transformation of contemporary social relations in a genre which highlights flux.
Zygmunt Bauman, in the text Liquid Times, describes a change in contemporary society which can be seen as modernity having passed from a solid to a liquid state. Relations among individuals, and individuals among institutions, is marked now by a fluidity that previously did not exist (2007). With the advent of late capitalism, stability which was once strived for and expected is no longer readily available. This premise is demonstrated remarkably well in Reichardt’s film. On the one hand, we have Kurt, who, the film implicitly suggests, is homeless or facing homelessness. Kurt is reaching out to his old friend, Mark, to reestablish some form of coherence and form in his life; on the other hand we have the relationship between the two friends which itself is no longer stable due to a marked change in the two men’s modi vivendi. Kurt is drifting through life, anchorless, while Mark faces approaching fatherhood with something like stoic apprehension.
Reichardt also demonstrates this fluidity described by Bauman visually in Old Joy. There are many scenes of flowing water, and from the moving car, the audience sees the landscape transition from city to countryside, and back again. At one point in the film, when the two friends are camped in a refuse laden area of the woods, Kurt remarks that there is no difference between the forest and the city—essentially implying that clear distinctions no longer exist. Kurt goes on to explain his theory of the universe as approximating a falling tear drop (2006). The entire human enterprise is in motion, and with Kurt’s explanation of it as a tear, we feel the melancholy of an inability to grasp a solid relationship.
"in exploring the relationship between characters Kurt and Mark, Reichardt is able to simultaneously examine a broader transformation of contemporary social relations in a genre which highlights flux." Nice point, linking filmic form (genre) to content and context ("how" to "what"). Also excellent use of readings.
Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy (2006) is a film I hold close to my heart, primarily for its meditations on men’s struggles with emotional openness and shared vulnerability. Neither Mark (Daniel London) nor Kurt (Will Oldham) perfectly fit a traditional masculine mold characterized by dominance/success in the home, workplace, and among peers. In fact, as E. Dawn Hall writes, “Reichardt asks spectators to fill in the blanks, causing a constant struggle throughout the film, for most American audiences, to categorize Kurt and Mark’s masculinity” (66). However, while neither man explicitly asserts himself in the way a traditional patriarch would, there are still moments in which the traditional patriarch comes out more subtly. For example, when Mark asks Tanya (Tanya Smith) for permission to go camping with Kurt – a seemingly submissive act – Tanya sees right through him and says, “Look, we know you’re just waiting for me to tell you to go.” Mark’s “game” involves feigning submission while exercising subtle dominance. By ostensibly giving his wife the power to determine if he goes on the camping trip, he also gives her the guilt should she refuse him a good time with his old friend. It’s manipulative, and Tanya is quick to call him out. So, again, while a traditional patriarch would simply say, “I’m going camping with Kurt this weekend,” not bothering to ask permission, the “sneaky” patriarch asserts his intentions in a way that seems almost servile but is actually similarly dominating. Mark continues to assert his masculinity in roundabout ways later in the film, such as when Kurt tells him to turn onto another road and he replies, “Really?” It’s a gentle way of questioning Kurt’s credibility and, thereby, lending further credit to Mark’s own masculinity.
ReplyDeleteThough I’ve so far discussed the ways in which Mark’s masculinity is more traditional than it might initially appear, Kurt offers up a counterpoint masculinity that diverges from the traditional in many ways. Most notably, as I alluded to at the start of this post, is Kurt’s surprising emotional openness. While the two men sit by the fire, Kurt nearly breaks down, saying, “I miss you, Mark...There’s something between us and I want it to go away.” While emotional distance is a staple of traditional masculinity, Kurt is disturbed by it rather than comforted. However, we see him subjected to traditionalist pressures when Mark insists that their relationship is “fine.” Kurt takes a moment to collect himself, then tells Mark to ignore him and that he (Kurt) must be going crazy. At least for the moment, Mark’s insistence that the emotional barrier between them doesn’t exist convinces Kurt to stay silent about this very real problem. Kurt is, in essence, caught between two competing masculinities – one more traditional, one more emotionally expressive, but both vulnerable and unstable. Hall considers this tension (i.e., Mark’s unwillingness to “open up to Kurt and show any emotional vulnerability”) the most prevalent one in the film (69). In contrast, during an interview, Reichardt describes the men’s conflict as a “competition” in which “I’m more open than you are” is the end goal (Ponsoldt). I’m skeptical that this is the case – the stakes of the “competition” seem more along the lines that Hall describes in the aforementioned quote. Kurt champions emotional openness while Mark champions his fireside sentiment that their friendship and everything else is “fine.”
While I know this post has been long, I can’t end it before I talk about my favorite scene in the film – in fact, one of my favorite scenes in any film. When Kurt massages Mark in the hot spring, Mark initially reacts with discomfort evident on his face and squirming shoulders. However, Kurt – in perhaps his most dominating moment in the whole film – continues the massage and insists that Mark relax. Thus far, Mark hasn’t reciprocated Kurt’s desire for an emotional connection, so Kurt has taken it upon himself to force Mark into one. Paradoxically, the action is at once traditionally masculine in its domination and yet something far different in the vulnerability and tenderness it leads to. The effect is simultaneously unsettling and beautiful.
DeletePerhaps I’ve gone somewhat astray in addressing our central course question, but I do think the love and money connection is present here, at least as an undercurrent. Mark mentions how overworked he is when describing his imminent fatherhood, which leads us to believe he is a work-oriented person. He is someone who rarely gets a minute to himself or his relationships, given his burdensome job duties. Thus, he has had less time to attend to his emotional and relational life than Kurt – unemployed and naturally introspective – has. Kurt’s lack of employment may cripple his success as a traditional masculine figure, as Hall points out (67), but it is his lack of focus on the world of work that allows him to get in touch with not only his own emotional issues, but those present in his relationships. Mark’s lack of emotional development – a partial result of his focus on work – is what prevents him and Kurt from developing a reciprocal love – whether platonic or romantic – for each other.
If we want to take the "money" - "love" question into consideration, here, perhaps we might want to consider how the "public" voice of the radio plays out. Why is it there to begin with?
DeleteToday our film gravitated more toward the type of love that is, arguably, more common for all: the love shared between friends, particularly old ones. While the disintegration of a romantic partnership is commonly depicted in cinema, rarely do directors tackle the issue at hand in Old Joy. Reichardt shows us the pain of growing apart from those we once shared everything with.
ReplyDeleteThe dynamic between Kurt and Mark is typical: somewhere in their thirties (I assume), one of the two became a little more settled, more “solid.” Mark’s life represents the older type of life: a seemingly steady marriage, a child on the way, a perfect dog (if I may editorialize), and a well-tended garden. Kurt, on the other hand, embodies an extreme example of the liquidity of the modern day. Kurt smokes weed, wears raggedy clothes (which, until the end, you assume is just a mark of being a hipster and a Portlander), and seems to place much more value in the trip than his old buddy, Mark. None of these necessitates instability, but they do end up being small warning posts about Kurt’s fate.
At the root of the disintegration of this friendship is money. Mark is supporting a family. Kurt is (probably?) homeless, particularly based on the end of the film. The thing is, friends are the most awkward source of monetary help. Good friends feel a sense of obligation to help a buddy in need: a couch to crash on for a couple weeks between apartments, a lunch when a friend forgot their wallet, etc. However, larger sums are uncomfortable. Perhaps Kurt and Mark’s friendship would last if Kurt had been honest about their financial situation and Mark had offered to help, but perhaps it would have just been weakened even more. Ultimately, the film perhaps says that friends of a completely different financial situation have too much of a strain or an imbalance to maintain a genuine friendship.
Perhaps the nature of the friendship in Old Joy reflects something that has not changed as much in the modern world: friends with different lives gradually drift apart. However, although perhaps not the central relationship, the one between man and nature, the urban and the rural, seems to have evolved rapidly. Where the two were once, seemingly, completely separate, Kurt bleakly reminds us that the two have no blended together, as he sits on some kitschy, shitty couch in the middle of the woods in Oregon.
I would also like to briefly address Eric's commentary on the topic of men's struggles with vulnerability. This is so rarely addressed in film. My first impressions were, admittedly: Oh boy. A coupla boys doing a camp thing in the woods with Hamm's. How long before someone makes a crude joke? This movie subverted all of my preconceived notions of how male friendships are depicted in cinema, and I cannot wait to see what Reichardt does with other relationships in film. Ultimately, the inability to show vulnerability is what keeps Kurt from allowing Mark to know how desperate his financial situation truly is.
One could also think about WHAT the film shows of Portland and Oregon, in terms of socioeconomic environment. It's far from Portlandia, isn't it?
DeleteIn stark contrast to our previous two films, Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy (2006), while certainly gesturing toward themes of socioeconomic difficulties that come between people, seems to concern itself more immediately with anxieties about time and lost time. From the moment they first share the screen together it's very apparent that Mark and Kurt's relationship has been strained by time; Mark is on the cusp of solidifying into a traditionally mature life with a wife and children, while Kurt is more of an existential drifter without responsibilities or commitments. While their friendship may have once been a powerful bond founded in the simple and carefree indulgences of smoking marijuana and spontaneous camping excursions, it appears that the time since then has found Mark making a move to a more traditional, stable life and Kurt continuing to live moment to moment. Mark feels bogged down by his domesticated life, made evident by the relatively common trope in the beginning of the film that finds him in a passive aggressive exchange with his wife about whether she would mind if he spent the evening camping "with the guys", as it were. His conversations with Kurt in the car about the record store that no longer exists and his father's difficulties with blood clotting in the brain and leaving his mother at 70 feel like a mixture of nostalgic escapism and a somewhat desperate attempt to make sense of the randomness of life. For Mark, time is moving at a pace that he can't keep up with, and he even admits that helping teach sixteen year olds allows him to feel closer to his youth. This is in direct opposition to Kurt's relationship with time, which is one of constant reflection and meditation that makes him see the present and not much else. This relationship to time allows him to make bizarre but weirdly profound hypotheses about the nature of the universe and why anyone should tell him how to conceptualize it, but of course inhibits him from finding any stability in his life. This ultra-free and ostensibly apathetic worldview makes the audience initially opposed to Kurt, as “his honesty and vulnerability…make him powerless in a hyper masculine society” (Hall 69), a society that Mark has apparently conformed to. Reichardt’s decision to set this collision of two friends whose worldviews have grown apart in nature feels incredibly appropriate. Especially in the scene where they finally get to experience the baths, the camera intercuts between impossibly minute yet beautiful details and gorgeous landscape shots make time feel completely still. Away from the bustle of the city, Kurt and Mark can actually work out their differences on neutral territory and actually learn from each other’s perspectives. Mark learns how to relax from Kurt, show in a very intimate scene where Kurt massages Mark at the baths, and Kurt is perhaps more aware of his loneliness in the ending scene, aimlessly looking around after Mark has returned to his wife and home.
ReplyDelete"Away from the bustle of the city, Kurt and Mark can actually work out their differences on neutral territory and actually learn from each other’s perspectives. Mark learns how to relax from Kurt, show in a very intimate scene where Kurt massages Mark at the baths, and Kurt is perhaps more aware of his loneliness in the ending scene, aimlessly looking around after Mark has returned to his wife and home." A good take on this. In this context it perhaps also might be worth considering how, traditionally, nature/city are "gendered."
ReplyDeleteOld Joy directed by Kelly Reichardt is a film that looks at love from a different angle than the other films we have watched, but still deals with love. While Climate and Jerichow focus more on the romantic side of love, Old Joy makes a point to focus more on friendship and the love that friends feel. It is apparent in the film that Kurt and Mark have had a falling out at some point in the past, and this camp outing is an attempt to reconnect as friend. By the end of the film we still feel an awkwardness between these two characters and they both go their separate ways making unconvincing promises to stay in touch. In other words it feels as though the friendship has fallen through and there is no love between them anymore. One could argue that they simply cannot remain friends because of their societal roles being so different. For example, Reichardt In Focus states that on the back of the DVD Kurt is described as a "post hippie" and Mark is described as a "father to be" clearly separating their societal roles. This very well could be the case. Perhaps Mark has grown out of childish nature walks and smoking weed and simply doesn't feel comfortable with Kurt anymore because of this. However one thing we do know is that the film is meant to be a bit ambiguous, and Reichardt herself even said in an interview that she can see how people could walk out of the movie with different view points. So on this note I do not believe that the friendship ended because of there differences, but rather it all comes back to money. The class theme is that "love cannot exist without money" and I believe this to be the case between the friendship of Mark and Kurt. While it is not explicitly stated that Mark has money and Kurt does not, there are instances within the film that suggest this. Fist off, Mark a few different times in the film mentions how well he is doing in his job, and states that he and his wife are both working a lot. On the other hand, Kurt seems to be a drifter. He talks about all the different springs he has visited, and it even looks like he has a set up to sleep in his van. Another scene my mind goes to is when they first leave for the mountain. Even though it was Kurt's idea to go and he invited Mark, he says that his van doesn't do well in the mountains, and suggests that Mark drive. This to me states that Kurt does not have a vehicle that is in good shape, but more importantly that he is relying on Mark to pay for the gas. The final scene that shows the monetary difference between the characters is the scene in which Kurt is buying weed. Before he approaches the seller, he asks Mark for ten dollars. At first is seems as though Mark is simply chipping in for his portion, but as the movie progresses we realize that Kurt is the only one of the two that every smokes the weed. This means that Mark was not chipping in but rather Kurt didn't have enough money to buy his own weed. To bring this full circle, it is apparent that Kurt does not have any money. I believe that Reichardt is sending the message that love cannot exist without money and this is why the friendship ultimately fails.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the coherence and focus of this post.
DeleteMy immediate reaction to Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy (2006) was the feeling that nothing happened. I knew something had happened - I had taken notes about the very few events that took place in the film - but it felt like nothing had. This stemmed from rolling long takes, filled with the folk-rock music of Yo La Tengo, lingering nature scenes, like a tree slug essentially doing nothing, or of the dog in the film, Lucy, wandering through the forest.
ReplyDeleteOne thing is for sure, Reichardt is fantastic at honoring the space, letting us come into the physicality of the location to further allow us to experience the emotional exchange between characters. This emotional exchange, the silences held during the characters’ conversations, is what I found to be the main focus, Reichardt pulling us in to what she finds most important. As Sam Littman explains, “Old Joy introduces Reichardt’s predilection for long takes and conversation scenes defined by silence more so than what is said, ennobling the mundane in a manner reminiscent of Robert Bresson.” The mundane is what is important here, because it holds the information about what this relationship has become.
These two men, Mark (Daniel London), the together, soon-to-be-father, and Kurt (Will Oldham), the not-together, soon-to-be-who-knows, are both trying to reconnect with their past and in that effort are connecting instead with the present. This is displayed beautifully at the beginning of their road trip to the “it’s around here somewhere” hot springs, where the two of them are talking about old times - an old friend, who the pipe Mark brought belonged to - and Kurt glances out the window and muses, “End of an era.” The camera then follows what Kurt is gazing at and the music rolls in on this tracking shot of the scenery as they drive by. It’s the beginning of their trip, but Kurt is already realizing that this is the end of something, something between Mark and him or possibly something ending between Kurt and himself. The past is becoming the present.
This circles back into my feelings after finishing the movie, that nothing happened. We watched as both of these men went on a journey together, reminiscing, one attempting to process the upcoming stage of his life, fatherhood, another grappling with the demons of getting older, and both of them return to their respective lives before the trip. Mark turns on his talk radio after dropping off Kurt, and Kurt is sadly wandering around the city. Essentially, nothing happened. These voyeuristic shots of Kurt as he moves through the city at night, in the same clothes he’s worn for three days, and then a fade up and away from him as the culmination of what has just happened, suggests that nothing was resolved. The men will not work out the “something between them” that Kurt brought up earlier, Mark will find a new rhythm because he lives in the present. Yes, something happened, but nothing changed.
“End of an era.” Nice take on this.
DeleteOld Joy by Kelly Reichardt is a film that focuses on the love and connection of two friends Mark and Kurt. Mark and Kurt both represent different economic lifestyles. Kurt seems to be homeless and living out of his car, disorganized, and immature and an often time uses his friendship to get what he wants from Mark. This is evident when Kurt asks to use Marks car for the expedition even though Kurt coordinates this trip and Kurt is the one who knows where the hot springs are located. Kurt also asks for money from mark to buy drugs but Mark never partakes in the festivities as he is an adult and has other obligations, like his expecting wife.
ReplyDeleteKurt represents an economic freedom, as he has no job and states that he has really had no serious responsibilities especially like the one Mark is expecting. Kurt says in the movie that “everyone is so busy now” referring that all of his old friends have since grown up and moved on in their lives. This also ties into the theme of Liquidity that we have previously talked about in class. Another example of liquidity and changes in the economy that struck out to me would have to be the scene where Kurt wants to visit the old records store but the record store has since gone out of business and only sells records over the internet through EBay. This spoke to me, saying this shows an end to an era with records and that time has since moved on to a more contemporary means of selling through the Internet. The store also could represent the “small man” in the business world. A much larger juice corporation takes over the small business after the records shop is unable to pay rent, this shows that the economy is structured to enhance the power hungry corporations rather than smaller independent family owned stores.
Mark represents a stable seemingly normal economic lifestyle, as he is a working family man. Even though we can clearly see that Kurt’s life is not as together as Marks, Mark still trusts Kurt. Kurt gets lost trying to find this spring and Mark is patient, stating that he trusted Kurt the whole time and never doubted him. Mark is an expecting father who looks as this trip as a nice get away from the responsibilities of his everyday life. You can see that Mark has not been away from his pregnant wife for sometime as she regularly calls and his camping gear was hidden away and looked to have not been used in awhile.
My take on the talk radio would have to be that the radio talks about all these different problems in the world like racial tensions, wage issues, and budgeting with a family. Mark listens to the radio mostly and it makes me think that he is worried about how this baby may effect his family and that maybe he is not emotionally ready or financially ready. Also I think the radio talks about all the things that this camping trip doesn’t represent. The radio talks about responsibilities and obligations while the trip is lackadaisical and unorganized, just like our two characters Mark and Kurt.
I'm glad you addressed the role the radio plays. We want to talk about this more.
DeleteThe power of friendship is an interesting subject to demonstrate, the film Old Joy (2006) highlights the reconnection of two friends Mark (Daniel London) and Kurt (Will Oldham). Mark is recognized to be a well-put-together person and is the ideal man in societies picture. Kurt, on the other hand, portrays a hippie that’s free-spirited and challenges the face of society. The use of realism in the character of Kurt symbolizes the persona of life taking him on a never-ending journey. Kurt is a charismatic person but seems to have lost his enthusiasm for life. Scared about his friendship with Mark, it seems Kurt realizes that he is going off to be a good person in society. Mark being a soon to be father sets off Kurt’s relationship with him because they haven’t connected in such a long time that they are distant. Although, Kurt does show he supports Mark on his soon to be life, Mark isn’t quite sure if he is ready to uphold that kind of responsibility. E. Dawn Hall says Kurt’s character is much more complex; Kurt is described as “a real person who has flaws and can create an uneven distancing effect.”(66) Kurt’s character contains a sympathetic view when he asks Mark about their friendship and questions whether they are going to be able to keep touch. Kurt blames honesty on his pot smoking, and that being out there his sorrows show the element of feeling lonely. “The decay of their friendship”(23) seems to be the theme of the film, not knowing where the friendship will end up at the end of the movie. Kurt’s joy and freedom appear in the clothing and materials he owns. The pink t-shirt, torn jean shorts, and rugged boots bring out his character’s style. Kurt’s happy child like features comes from being around Mark. In the end, the film tells a story about Kurt’s real life and how depressing it feels, only the bond of his old friend Mark seems to bring out the joyfulness he used to attain.
ReplyDeleteThe connection of their friendship can be brought to attention by the radio voiceover. The liberal democratic station presents the relationship of Mark and Kurt according to E. Dawn Hall, “their relationship is symbolic of the deep divide in America as it reelected a president and continued a divisive war abroad.”(58) The liberalistic view in the film captures the way the director Kelly Reichardt feels about the future of our society moving forward.
The liberal democratic station presents the relationship of Mark and Kurt according to E. Dawn Hall, “their relationship is symbolic of the deep divide in America as it reelected a president and continued a divisive war abroad.”(58) This is a useful quotation to introduce to our conversation.
DeleteIn Old Joy (2006), the relationship between Mark and Kurt, two friends trying to reconnect after losing contact, is almost portrayed as romantic with “homoerotic undertones” (Littman). Like Climate’s Isa and Bahar, we watch as Kurt and Mark’s relationship further cripples and we experience the “feelings of sorrow, unease and even dread that course through the movie like a hidden creak” (Littman). Kurt wants so badly to return to the friendship they once had, however the people they are now, are completely different from one another. While Kurt is stuck in the past, Mark, on the other hand, looks towards the future. The conversations these men have reflect this. The topics Kurt brings up are ones about people from Mark and Kurt’s past and philosophical interpretations to express his knowledge. One instance of this is when Kurt reveals that he wants to sell his records, but once he learns that their friend as gone to the Internet to sell records, Kurt seems almost saddened by this change. He also tries to show his intelligence to somehow reference their time in school and take Mark’s mind back to these memories. As for Mark, his talking points consist of topics about his family and his future baby. Mark worries about the future of his family and how he will be able to provide for them. The disconnect in their mindsets shows why the tension continually increases as they spend more time together. Kurt is unclear of what he wants or even how to be an adult, which is why he is stuck in the past. He even shows skepticism of how Mark can be a father; “despite his wariness of the duties,” Mark is content with fatherhood (Littman). Another example of Kurt’s childishness is shown through him smoking weed like they did in their past; in contrast, Mark is never shown smoking, as if to show how grown up he has become. Through this trip, it leads both men to realize how different they are and ultimately shows that this will be the last time they see one another. This is marked by their one intimate moment at the springs when Kurt massages Mark. It was almost as if they wanted one moment to fully express how their relationship once was before Kurt left for his next journey (which we see as Kurt wanders the city at the end of the movie) and before mark returned to his family.
ReplyDeleteThe course’s central theme of how money connects to love is also present within this film. “Through his conversations with Mark,” we can assume that Kurt has no job. He has little money, no real purpose in life, and no one with him to share his life. On the other hand, Mark has a job, a family, and love. This shows that the lack of money led Kurt into “this purgatory of endless journeying,” while Mark was able to reach his destination in life (Littman). Money in this case matters and determines the freedom and love each of the characters received. When Kurt was able to get some money and use Mark’s things, he was finally able to feel some love from Mark while at the springs. He finally gained some wealth thanks to Mark, which helped him to experience his past again, something he desired. This wealth also helped him to have one last intimate moment with Mark before they parted ways. However, after this parting, he lost his wealth and went right back into his endless journey. The director Reichardt reiterates how love and wealth are related by giving and taking Kurt’s wealth. This shows how he is cursed with an endless journey with the absence of this wealth.
This is good. A bit more attention to the film qua film (cinematic) would further enhance your reading of the film.
DeleteI think "liquid" is an appropriate description for "Old Joy". While "Jerichow" and "Climates" felt harder and more solid to me, "Old Joy" delved into the softness and fluidity that made up the film's main atmosphere. This film is about the changes in the friendship between Mark (Daniel London), a man who seems to have his life together, and Kurt (Will Oldham), a man who seems to have nothing at all. The two men, along with Lucy the dog, embark on a journey to the mountains to visit a hidden hot spring.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it appears that nothing really "happens", I feel as though a tremendous amount of growth and shifting really occurred throughout the story. Throughout the film, it is obvious that there is a certain tension between Mark and Kurt-- one that cannot be removed by slipping into old ways of conversation and actions. After their first night of camping, Kurt even remarks that "Something has come between us. And I don't like it." This "thing" that has risen up between them is "[...] the decay of their friendship" (23) The decaying friendship between Mark and Kurt, two masculine identities, leaves both of them feeling powerless and sullen-- neither one of them can find the "one true thing" that will reconnect their old friendship. Once this power has been removed from them, even in the neutral territory that is the forest, they cannot seem to spark that old interest in each other that has since died out. Even after trying to get physically intimate in the hot springs, it seems as though the power to fix their friendship has been drained and dried from the both of them.
At the end of the film, Mark returns to his stable life, his eyes still holding that sad glaze from the forest, while Kurt wanders the street, still holding out hope for a shift in his world. They will get some power back-- Mark in starting a family, Kurt in following his freestyle living-- but never enough to make their friendship flow again. Reichardt feels that the future of society, including traditional power structures, is always moving and, much like liquid, it is always flowing. Things will always be shifting and changing, including the strengths and rifts of friendships and the sheer amount of power that it takes to maintain them.
"Reichardt feels that the future of society, including traditional power structures, is always moving and, much like liquid, it is always flowing." How does the film qua film (its cinematicness) communicate this?
DeleteIf there is one aspect of Kelly Reichardt’s film Old Joy which garners a nearly universal consensus, it is that the film in question belongs, at least in part, to a genre known as the “road movie”. Dawn Hall, in her dissertation on American independent female filmmakers, places Reichardt’s film firmly in this category (58), as does Manohla Dargis in a New York Times review. Reichardt herself, in an interview published in Reverse Shot, acknowledges the importance of the road trip (Ortega-Rodriguez), though she is unwilling to definitively explain the characters or the meanings represented by them and their actions. The film follows two characters, Kurt (Will Oldham) and Mark (Daniel London) who are old friends that have not spent time together in what is presumably a very long time. After a surprise phone call by Kurt to Mark, the two friends decide to go camping together in the Oregon wilderness. The destination is a hot spring which Kurt has described to Mark, and much of the film involves the duo’s attempts to find the spring.
ReplyDeleteIn a New York Times article, Walter Salles, notable director of contemporary road movies writes: “The earliest road movies were about the discovery of a new land or about the expansion of new frontiers . . . (I)n later decades, road movies also tried to accomplish a different task: to show national identities in transformation” (Salles, 2007). Though Reichardt prefers to remain silent when asked specific questions in terms of interpretation of her films (Ponsoldt), the road movie is uniquely suited for explorations of social transition, and this could very well be the reason Reichardt has chosen the road/journey model for her films. Specifically, in exploring the relationship between characters Kurt and Mark, Reichardt is able to simultaneously examine a broader transformation of contemporary social relations in a genre which highlights flux.
Zygmunt Bauman, in the text Liquid Times, describes a change in contemporary society which can be seen as modernity having passed from a solid to a liquid state. Relations among individuals, and individuals among institutions, is marked now by a fluidity that previously did not exist (2007). With the advent of late capitalism, stability which was once strived for and expected is no longer readily available. This premise is demonstrated remarkably well in Reichardt’s film. On the one hand, we have Kurt, who, the film implicitly suggests, is homeless or facing homelessness. Kurt is reaching out to his old friend, Mark, to reestablish some form of coherence and form in his life; on the other hand we have the relationship between the two friends which itself is no longer stable due to a marked change in the two men’s modi vivendi. Kurt is drifting through life, anchorless, while Mark faces approaching fatherhood with something like stoic apprehension.
Reichardt also demonstrates this fluidity described by Bauman visually in Old Joy. There are many scenes of flowing water, and from the moving car, the audience sees the landscape transition from city to countryside, and back again. At one point in the film, when the two friends are camped in a refuse laden area of the woods, Kurt remarks that there is no difference between the forest and the city—essentially implying that clear distinctions no longer exist. Kurt goes on to explain his theory of the universe as approximating a falling tear drop (2006). The entire human enterprise is in motion, and with Kurt’s explanation of it as a tear, we feel the melancholy of an inability to grasp a solid relationship.
"in exploring the relationship between characters Kurt and Mark, Reichardt is able to simultaneously examine a broader transformation of contemporary social relations in a genre which highlights flux." Nice point, linking filmic form (genre) to content and context ("how" to "what"). Also excellent use of readings.
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