Laikals The greatest movie ever made..!

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Vandad Alvandipour My Joy is a combination of several stories, centered on a period of the life of a truck driver, who looses his way in the road and comes to some events that ruin his life, leaving him as an insane and mindless man. It is a dark and cold movie, artfully made, concentrating on the wickedness of the people in a society, esp. wickedness which comes from abusing the power mostly among police forces and army men. It also portrays a society in which most people don't care to others and only seek their own interests. We see different periods of times, past and present, and different characters that are woven to each other beautifully. In whole, a very good yet cynical, sad and dark film about human's evil and violence.

john-hanshaw I don't think it's a 'social commentary' or a 'statement of the human condition' - it's a mess of a movie made by a potentially very skilled director who seems to get bored with the (admittedly rather boring) storyline and tarts it up in the last 40 minutes with a whole lot of disjointed events which we are left to piece together ourselves, however we may. Perhaps he couldn't think of a sufficiently clever ending and (just the same way as Picasso got bored with doing half-decent paintings) decided to let the New York Art House Set name it to be a work of intellectual brilliance (just in case it actually was). Worth watching for the Ukrainian scenery and faces and for masterful camera-work - but only once unless you want to learn the style.

Radu_A 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.

magus-9 Certainly one of the best films of the year, MY JOY depicts the journey of a truck driver through contemporary Russia. The journey is full of detours, some of which take in scenes from the past, from 60 years or so ago, in the time of World War Two. In beautiful, lyrical mise-en-scene, the director shows scenes of brutality, rudeness, corruption and violence; this is a poetical portrayal of ugliness... Whether it is intended as a depiction of the brutality of conditions in contemporary Russia, or whether it is intended more as a general portrait of the human condition is not entirely clear to me, but, whatever it is, this is strong, haunting film-making, skillfully depicting a disjointed world of violence and degradation.