Review of Old Joy

Old Joy (2006)
2/10
Lazy and inarticulate
26 June 2007
No, this is not an example of a subtle film-making. It is an attempt to mask all the film-making idleness with pretense of meaning that exists everywhere but inside those sad 76 minutes (barely over the minimum for a feature).

And that time span is mostly filled with a meaningless b-roll, something that can easily be mystified into "thinking space for audience" - but unfortunately does little more than to show the incompetence for using those moments creatively. The rest (which could easily fit into a 20-30 min short, and would probably end up as such if edited by anybody other than director herself) consists of dialogs without any duty to really say anything. Little that we know about the characters isn't conveyed here either. The dialog only states their miscommunication.

I was left puzzled after watching, by the utmost absence of any kind of comment, or statement, or even a direction of thinking. So I went to hear what filmmakers have to say in the commentary bonus track on the DVD. To my further shocking disappointment, they have to say - nothing. I felt nobody there cared to say anything, nor did they say anything of any substance, and the "commentary" track runs quiet for 95% of the runtime.

Not only can I strongly state that reading the plot of this film here on IMDb will give you more than actually watching this film, but I have an equally definite and disturbing impression that the creators of this make-believe artifact never were nor will be able of making anything substantial or meaningful. Sorry.

The only thing bringing that 2nd star on are few interesting visual moments (things happen even in the boredom of the dentist waiting room), due to some nice camera compositions. Certainly not enough to sustain the interest and meaning more than 2 minutes in total.
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