Pitchfork

Like Tom Waits before him, Will "Bonnie Prince Palace Superwolf" Oldham has cultivated a distinct outsider mystique, maintaining the image of a wise but wayworn vagabond adrift in desolate seas of sound and vision. Which is to say, Will is way cool, and about to get cooler: Oldham will co-star alongside Daniel London (Rent, Minority Report, Patch Adams) in Old Joy, a movie premiering later this week at the Sundance Film Festival.

Old Joy, based on the Jonathan Raymond short story, tells the tale of Kurt (Oldham) and Mark (London), "two lifelong friends...who reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade mountain range," according to the press release. Directed by Kelly Reichardt (Travis, Ode, River of Grass) and produced by Todd Haynes (director of Far From Heaven and Velvet Goldmine), Old Joy will show four times at the festival but is not in competition.

Not unlike Waits, Will's no stranger to the silver screen, having acted before in such films as Junebug, Radiation, Elysian Fields, Thousand Pieces of Gold, and Matewan. What's more, longstanding indie trio Yo La Tengo will provide Old Joy's soundtrack. You may recall that YLT portrayed the Velvet Underground in Mary Harron's I Shot Andy Warhol, and a marching band in Hal Hartley's kooky The Book of Life (also starring PJ Harvey!). They also soundtracked Junebug, Michael Hoffman's Game 6, and French avant-garde filmmaker Jean Painleve's underwater films, which resulted in the album The Sounds of the Sounds of Science in 2001.

Sundance festival director Geoff Gilmore had this to say about Old Joy: "For me it is a strong story, very minimalist and very powerful, formal, and delicate." But just how powerful, you ask? Find out when Old Joy does compete in the Rottendam International Film Festival, beginning January 28.

And that's not all: as previously reported, Willy-O will wreak havoc on CD shelves in the coming weeks, as the covers-collaboration-with-Tortoise The Brave and the Bold finally drops on January 24, followed a week later by the re-release of I Am a Cold Rock. I am Dull Grass., an Oldham tribute starring Mark Kozelek, Jolie Holland, Court and Spark, Elephant Micah, Viking Moses and Unbunny. You dig?

Man about the world Oldham is, the Old Joy boy ships off to Oceania later this month for some tourin'. Check it:

01-27 Raglan, New Zealand - AquaVelvet Café
01-28 Leigh, New Zealand - Sawmill Café
01-29 Leigh, New Zealand - Sawmill Café
02-02 Wellington, New Zealand - Indigo Bar
02-03 Nelson, New Zealand - Mean Fiddler
02-06 Golden Bay, New Zealand - Mussel Inn
02-09 Oamaru, New Zealand - Penguin Club
02-10 Dunedin, New Zealand - Sammy's
02-11 Christchurch, New Zealand - Creation
02-16 Melbourne, Australia - Forum
02-17 Melbourne, Australia - Forum
02-18 Sydney, Australia - Newtown
02-19 Sydney, Australia - Newtown
04-10 Aberdeen, Scotland - Lemon Tree
04-11 Glasgow, Scotland - ABC
04-12 Edinburgh, Scotland - Queens Hall
04-13 Gateshead, England - Sage
04-16 Perth, Scotland - Perth Theatre

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