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My Joy

Play trailer Poster for My Joy Released Sep 30, 2011 2h 7m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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90% Tomatometer 20 Reviews 66% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
A truck driver (Viktor Nemets) embarks on a dark odyssey through Russia.

Critics Reviews

View All (20) Critics Reviews
Eric Kohn indieWire The movie contains a mesmerizing visual appeal. Rated: B Nov 12, 2013 Full Review Alissa Simon Variety Although discomfiting to audiences desiring a steady narrative thread (and less accessible to those unfamiliar with Eastern European history and culture), it sustains interest throughout as a devastating critique of Russian society. Nov 12, 2013 Full Review Dave Calhoun Time Out There are hints of Tarkovsky in the poetic exploration of place and memory and the film is a demanding, difficult work. But the sense of a Dantean journey and a vision of utter hell are powerfully conveyed. Nov 12, 2013 Full Review Tanner Tafelski Vague Visages Necessarily bleak, My Joy shows [Russia] caught in the kind of circuitous violence that ultimately corrupts man. Oct 30, 2019 Full Review Daniel Kasman MUBI ..."My Joy"'s striking structure is directly inspired by a strange record of anecdotes that disturb the story of a young truck driver's route through the Russian countryside. Nov 16, 2017 Full Review Landon Palmer Film School Rejects It's a journey that takes us through unexpected, often harrowing twist and turns, unafraid to leave us perplexed, confused, or even frustrated. Rated: A- Oct 5, 2011 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (35) audience reviews
Audience Member I love my fair share of bleak and painful movies, but this one is incredibly mind-numbing and pointlessly boring. OK, so Russia is a bleak place, I get the picture. This message is overvalued by critics because it's paired with very good directing. The thing is, the directing doesn't change the terrible script. The good directing is the only thing keeping me from considering this movie a 0/10. It's not that hard to make everything feel grey, what's important is where you take that feeling, and this film takes it nowhere. I understand that this is the whole point of the movie, but that's why it's not a good movie. There are always deep intricacies in human existence even when we run into dead ends, but this movie ignores everything except the dead ends. If you want to see a movie that creates this kind of feeling but actually takes it somewhere with artistic value, look up Bela Tarr. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member good look at post-communist russia Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Gritty, gorgeous, unrelenting, haunting, blunt--hits you like a bucket of cement. It's a movie of little words, and the more I try to express its beauty, the more injustice I do to it... Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/02/23 Full Review walter m In "My Joy," Georgy(Viktor Nemets), a truck driver, is minding his business on a normal haul when he picks up an old man(Vladimir Golovin) as a hitchhiker who regales him with tales of the troubles he had getting home at the end of the Great Patriotic War. When Georgy futilely attempts to get diesel at a gas station, the old man simply walks off. Later, Georgy gets stuck in a traffic jam caused by an accident where a prostitute(Olga Shuvalova) who claims she is 18 tries to drum up some business. Okay, so far, not so bad, with the movie serving as an allegorical rumination on all that has not changed from the old Soviet Union to the new Russia, starting with random identity checks because nobody is really sure who anybody is anymore. Along these same lines, at a scene where the characters are talking about a war, it took me a minute to realize which war. But while it is okay to play with reality a little, here it goes too far which causes the movie to lose the narrative completely, making it almost impossible to follow for a good deal of its second half, which is an accomplishment for me, and not even remotely in a good way. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member a road movie headed nowhere. 15 4 2013 Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member This movie was AMAZING. Very very dark. And no, that is NOT Zach Galifanakous on the cover. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
My Joy

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis A truck driver (Viktor Nemets) embarks on a dark odyssey through Russia.
Director
Sergei Loznitsa
Screenwriter
Sergei Loznitsa
Distributor
Kino Lorber
Production Co
Sota Cinema Group, Ma.ja.de. Fiction, Arte, Ma.Ja.De Filmproduktion, ZDF, Lemming Film, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg
Genre
Drama
Original Language
German
Release Date (Theaters)
Sep 30, 2011, Limited
Release Date (DVD)
Mar 13, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA)
$5.5K
Runtime
2h 7m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital