Kelly Reichardt's film walks softly, its sadness echoing like footfalls in an empty corridor. Somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, a young married guy named Mark (Daniel London) gets a phone call from his old friend Kurt (Will Oldham), who invites him camping. The story is nothing but their shaggy-dog journey to a well-hidden hot springs in the Cascade Mountains. But into their time together, in Mark's car and in the woods, Reichardt and co-screenwriter Jonathan Raymond pour the words and silences befitting two lives grown irrevocably apart: Kurt loping along a lonely, confused path toward some vague ecstasy, Mark -- about to become a dad -- anxious over responsibilities looming and possibilities closing off. Old Joy is quiet, it's slow, and no one who's lost a friend to nothing but time will forget it. Starts Fri., Feb. 2. Harris (BO) 
