“Sorrow is nothing but worn out joy.”

Plot Summary: Two old friends - one married with a child on the way, Mark (Daniel London), the other a seemingly carefree drifter, Kurt (Will Oldham) - reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon.

Review:

Although they were once close friends, Mark and Kurt have drifted apart over the years, the former settling down into comfortable domesticity, the latter drifting through life like a terminal hippie. Mark has a steady job and middle-class responsibilities, Kurt parties and gets baked. Their divergent life paths have put an obvious strain on their relationship, and they now relate to each other with an awkward uneasiness - more like casual acquaintances than bosom buddies. Nevertheless, they’ve agreed to head to the Cascade Mountains for a weekend camping trip together. As they drive from the suburbs/city (civilization) to the remote mountain location (wilderness), Reichardt calls particular attention to the changing landscape outside their car window, with man-made structures like bridges and buildings giving way to beautiful natural scenery like forests and mountains, a change which reflects/foreshadows the way their rapport with each other during the trip steadily evolves from strained and artificial to relaxed and natural. The languorous pacing, spare style and melancholy music make clear this is no Deliverance-style civilization-versus-nature adventure, but rather a spiritual pilgrimage for two old pals seemingly headed toward either confrontation or mutual understanding, or perhaps both.

Tensions flare somewhat when they get lost, which causes Mark to question the wisdom of embarking on this adventure in the first place, but after camping for the night they reorient themselves and hike through forest trails to their ultimate destination, a hot springs somewhere in the middle of the wilderness. In the tranquil environment of the springs, with its gently flowing water, its peaceful birdsong and its softly rustling trees, their tensions seem to dissolve away while lying side-by-side in their separate baths. Kurt tells Mark about a dream he had in which a woman tells him, “Sorrow is nothing but worn out joy” (providing a clue to the film’s title), and then the film arrives, finally, at its big moment, which is, I suppose, sort of the minimalist’s idea of a mind-fuck: Kurt kneels down behind Mark and begins to rub his shoulders. At first Mark squirms but soon he relaxes and apparently enjoys it, while Kurt glares in the direction of Mark’s wedding ring.

What’s going on here? Has the film suddenly turned into Cascadeback Mountain? Are we supposed to believe they were lovers in the past? If so, why wasn’t there any indication of this until now? Perhaps it’s asking too much of this oh-so-subtle, emotionally reserved movie to provide a blatantly passionate “I wish I could quit you” moment, but you’d think the subject might have come up at some point the night before while they were camping out there in the wilderness together. Instead Kurt just talked about - in between taking monster bowl hits - his theory that the universe is a big teardrop, while Mark never said much at all and looked as if he’d rather be about anywhere else. Or perhaps we’re supposed to believe they share a transcendent moment of pure nonsexual affection which fleetingly recaptures the old joy of their friendship. But if they were such close friends, why couldn’t they maintain a friendship despite their divergent life paths? People do it all the time. Perhaps the most sensible explanation is that Kurt has always carried an unspoken, unrequited torch for Mark, and that Mark allows this one special moment before they pack up and go their separate ways, perhaps forever. But that’s not really a satisfying interpretation either. The film has been described as “subtle” and “minimalist” which might be, I’m afraid, just doublespeak for “thematically evasive” and “poorly motivated” and despite a fairly intriguing build-up, the big climactic pay-off simply failed to connect emotionally with this viewer.

Posted on April 12th, 2008 by Mat Viola
Filed under: Reviews