MovieChat Forums > Old Joy (2007) Discussion > I sorta hoped Oldham'd have something to...

I sorta hoped Oldham'd have something to say.

posted 16 years ago by Almostyou
4 replies | jump to latest

Man, I love Bonnie Prince Billy, and I know he wasn't playing himself here, but you know how you sort of half-think he is? This film was lovely, the shots of them thar hills were well pretty, and the Yo La Tengo soundtrack made up for a lot- I just found the dialogue to be so... unedifying. You're in a great place right now? Brilliant. Childbirth is a Big Thing? Thanks for that. Being understated is one thing, but I was aghast at how juvenile the script was. 'I love it when we talk about the Deep Stuff.' I'd o'thought that Oldham left to himself to improvise would come up with better lines (have you listened to 'the letting go'?), except that he agreed to perform in this, so maybe he wouldn't; maybe he felt it said enough. The arc of the film is fine, I just can't quite get over how trite so many of the mouthwords were.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Jazztiger 15 years ago

I thought it was quite realistic in that respect. If I went on a journey with someone I hadn't met in a while it would take quite some time before the conversation became relaxed. I'd expect it to be quite stilted and trite at first. As if we both felt the need to say something, however unoriginal it may be just to fill the awkward silence that echoes the fact that we have little in common and that's the reason why we haven't seen each other for a long time.

[–] bansh 15 years ago

I'm with Jazztiger. I felt it was very realsitic. I've had friendships suffer and it was pretty much right on. No feined hipster awkwardness set to a backdrop soundtrack of muppets playing the ukulele. Olham wasn't playing an aging philosophy major... his character was surviving the costs of letting go of the bs required to survive in modern society. He wasn't supposed to be a modern day Confucius. His words matched where he was coming from, and it has nothing to do with being hip or stoned. The deadpan stuff wasn't forced either, like most critically acclaimed 'dialogue-drive' films.

So basically the pretense of one of the actor's bands was stripped to fit the character, and nicely done.

[–] someone-117 13 years ago

this wasn't coffee and cigarettes. will oldham wasn't playing himself, and his character wasn't supposed to be very articulate.