framing device

It’s a truism in Hollywood that movies are made for the young. The studios aren’t going to turn away anyone over the age of 35, but they’ve given up on marketing to that demographic, which means they’ve also stopped making films for it. That’s left it to independent and documentary filmmakers to fill the void.

49 Up and Old Joy are not only designed for an older audience, they’re also about the process of growing older. The former is the seventh in a documentary series that began in the early ‘60s with a movie entitled 7 Up. That film looked at 14 British seven year olds, and most of the same people have returned every seven years to talk about how their lives have changed.

Old Joy is a fiction film, but director Kelly Reichardt has the eye of a documentarian. Mark (Daniel London) is a man around the age of 30 whose wife is expecting their first baby. He’s trying to escape the pressure of that imminent event by meditating when an old friend named Kurt (Will Oldham) calls. Kurt has been off on a pilgrimage, and he’s discovered this great place in the woods that he wants to show Mark. After getting a reluctant permission from his wife, Mark sets out in his Volvo with Kurt into the Oregon hills.

Reichardt establishes the friendship between the two men through subtle dialogue. We learn that they were best friends and roommates in earlier days and shared a passion for leftist politics, new age spirituality, and used records. They still love those things but now in different ways. Mark has settled down, as most married men do, and he channels his ideals into a community garden. Kurt roams the country visiting communal gatherings like the Burning Man festival and living off the good graces of friends and acquaintances. As for those records, well their favorite dealer Sid is selling on eBay now, and the old shop has become a smoothie store. “It’s the end of an era,” Kurt ponders.

As Old Joy reveals, though, friendships don’t usually end; they just evolve and drift apart. It’s not even that Mark and Kurt have changed that much. But the things that bound them together aren’t as important to them now (or at least to Mark), and the differences they glossed over in younger years have moved to the fore. Kurt’s impulsiveness and lack of organization didn’t affect Mark much when he was 20, but the fact that Kurt can’t remember the directions is just one of the many things he now finds irritating.

In that way, Old Joy is a melancholy film–ruminating over what we lose as we get older–but it’s not depressing. It’s a beautiful portrait of two men and a celebration of the moments they can still share, even as they both realize there won’t be many such moments in the future. The movie also explores how idealism, especially political idealism, changes over time. Reichardt’s beautiful sound design incorporates sounds of nature with talk radio, and the long road trip traces the movement from city to suburb to country to the woods. It’s a gorgeous film, anchored by two strong performances and luminous landscape cinematography.

49 Up is directed by Michael Apted, who worked on the first installment of the series and has directed every one since. The latest actually discusses his relationship with a couple of the people and how difficult it’s been to be part of the project, and I can’t imagine a better guide. The amazing thing about 49 Up is that you don’t need to have seen the other parts to understand these people. Apted and his able editor Kim Horton weave the new footage seamlessly with clips from earlier films, highlighting how people have grown older and how their earlier choices have laid the groundwork for who they are now. This approach gives the lie to “reality” television, reminding us that an honest, unmanipulative interview with someone is so much more powerful and interesting. The documentary’s only fault is the lack of time. Its 135 minutes fly by (the British television version is a full three hours; the American dvd version, which comes out in 10 days, is the shorter one), and you’re left wishing you could stay even longer with these fascinating, vulnerable folk.

Though I’m not 49, it’s looming a lot closer on the horizon than it used to, so I found it particularly poignant to see the various people talk about how their dreams have changed, as have their expectations for the future. As you might expect, much of the interviews and footage revolves around work, marriage and children. I could be churlish and state I wish there had been more attention paid to politics, religion, and culture, but you can only do so much in 2+ hours.

The series was originally designed to explore the class differences in Britain, and there are still elements of that expose here. It’s no surprise that those children who started with wealth and education have gone on to financial success, while those who started life in an orphanage have had a tougher time. But because 49 Up focuses even more on family issues, the class differences don’t seem as stark. Instead the themes of divorce and watching children grow into adulthood take precedence. It’s amazing how many of the subjects’ children look and act exactly like their parents. And while one woman remarks, “When you look at the seven-year-old us, it’s hard to believe it’s us” and a man states, “I can’t really recognize myself,” I had the opposite reaction. Yes, times have changed, but many things have stayed the same. Of course, that insight makes a lot more sense to those who’ve lived a while.

both films, four stars out of five