User Reviews

Extra warning: absolutely contains spoilers.

I've only watched once (so far), and I'll admit that it took some serious concentration to follow. And I'm not without questions.

But.

For all the reviewers who said that it was simply a bunch of unrelated, disconnected short stories about violence, you didn't watch carefully enough. There IS a main character. The scenes support the story of this main character throughout the whole movie (only if you WATCH the whole thing, of course), all the way to the end.

Our truck driving friend gives a lift to some random old man... a man who has lost his name (and his bride) in the war. We see the old man's story. And our truck driving friend has no idea that he will become just like this old man.

Our truck driving friend runs out of diesel and ends up getting set upon by three men who are desperate... one of whom is mute. Our truck driving friend has no idea that he will become just like this man who is mute.

And, contrary to one reviewer's perception that this all happens 'in a few days', we see a sudden shift from summer or fall to winter. It's our truck driving friend who is lying there in the woman's house, unmoving. It is he whom she takes advantage of physically, while he's unconscious.

It is he who becomes imprisoned. He who stumbles out of prison when another inmate breaks out.

He who waits by the side of the highway, finally to be picked up by a very talkative driver. And he who snaps at the end.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I started watching this movie. After one viewing, I'm looking forward to owning it and delving deep into its layers, unraveling it as best I can to learn more and to answer some of the questions I still have: what was the time period of the teacher and his young son? And is the son, orphaned and left sitting on the bench at his house, also the same old man who saves our truck driving friend from freezing by taking him home on his horse-drawn sleigh? I have no problem with not having all of the answers at the end of my watch. A movie of this magnitude is certainly worth repeated viewings. If you feel the same way, I recommend this movie to you.

While I saw this film, I couldn't help but thinking: 'Hm, where have I seen that before?' 'My Joy' is a series of short stories - some related, some not - about men taking advantage of another, which is presented as a somewhat natural, inescapable state of affairs. It all ends with an amok shoot-out. That would be the exact formula of 'Brigands, Chapter VII' (1996) by the late Otar Iosselani, minus the earlier film's dry humor. After having had the chance to see it again, I would venture to say that the stylistic and narrative similarities are far too many to be coincidental. Losnitza also leans quite heavily on Tarkovsky in terms of photography and Sokurov in terms of montage; all in all, very little is original.

'My Joy' may be stylistically appreciated as some sort of homage to the aforementioned authors, but its subject matter would appear rather a summary of common clichés than a depiction of (rural) life in Ukraine or Russia. If you have traveled in the region, you will be familiar with the horror stories depicted in this film - corrupt roadside police, hookers and theft everywhere -, but also with the fact that these bear little resemblance to reality nowadays. 'My Joy' therefore appears to be made for the consideration of those who adhere to these stereotypes, rather than those who have a genuine interest in the region.

I would also agree with those who criticize the story's arguably most shocking incident, namely the execution of a hospitable teacher by two marauding Red Army soldiers after his comment that the German Army might build a better Ukraine. While it's not altogether clear if that is the reason - the execution takes place the following morning, and the soldiers loot the place immediately afterward -, I think it's not acceptable for a German production - made with German tax payer's money - to include such a statement. I wouldn't go as far as calling this propaganda, though - rather a tasteless attempt to grab the viewer's attention. If you want to get an idea about what the German Army did to the Soviet Union, and why the statement in question is so controversial, watch 'Come and See' (1985).

In short, 'My Joy' is not a complete disaster, one may acknowledge its adaptation of classic features in Russian cinema. But more noticeably, it is a questionable mixture of clichés severely lacking in originality.

This film opens with a compelling scene involving a trucker in the countryside. It then follows on with the camera placed in front of the truck picking snapshots of people and their daily struggles along the road. More importantly we see a population subsisting in moral darkness. There is even a scene or two reminiscent of a Haneke wannabe.

Unfortunately the director plunges in this moral darkness he himself has created by revisiting history. When the film comes back to present day it falters and when it does that a second time in the rural home of a teacher it never comes back. The film loses any direction and becomes a collage of arbitrary violence. And most unfortunately this part is way longer then the rest of the movie! The director who apparently aims to lay the blame of current Ukrainian problems into Soviet era does not even stop short of a Nazi praise in the character of a teacher who blatantly hints God loving Nazis could have created a better Ukraine. This is where the film will find its place in history as a showcase of the rise of the extreme right in Europe! This is where free speech cunningly turns into hate speech and the propaganda goes totally out of control.

Mind blowing for sure if that was the intention of the director! This film can be watched as a case study.