“Sorrow is nothing but worn-out joy,” according to a key line in this much-lauded independent film shot in the forests outside of Portland, Oregon. A hot springs deep in these woods is the destination of two out-of-touch old friends on a hiking trip. Mark (Daniel London), already reeling from overwork, is about to become a father, something that he realizes will change his and his wife’s lives in unthinkable ways, though he has no idea how they will adapt. Kurt (indie musician Will Oldham) is less settled: Though he has substantially more hair on his chin than his crown, he maintains his youthful ideals of freedom, which involve the regular inhalation of burning substances. Fans of Old Joy, which include most of the reputable critics who have seen and reviewed it, respond to the subtlety with which it depicts this moment of loss in the lives of two men responding to the passage of time in different ways. Director Kelly Reichardt places the pair as a part of their environment, spending more time on the details of woodland life than on conversations that seem to lack connection. The film’s visual aspects may be more affecting on a large screen: Watching it on a screener DVD, I was struck more by the fact that the film is so ambiguous as to support any reading you want to bring to it (including a sexual interpretation that I doubt was intentional). It plays through Tuesday at the Emerging Cinema screen at the Market Arcade Film and Arts Center.