Finding Joe

This movie will surely appeal to misfits and dreamers of all stripes. It starts off promisingly, introducing a few of Joseph Campbell's key ideas, and even a couple of his subversive ones. Unfortunately, it soon devolves into interviews with several men, most of whom have unconventional occupations, and all but one of whom are white. These men delight in lecturing the audience about the ups and downs and eventual success they achieved during their own "journeys," using a profusion of nauseating "you"-statements instead of "I"-statements. The takeaway from this - that you too can have a fulfilling life if you just do what you love - is nothing new and can be heard in your local college's career counseling office. Oh, but be prepared for the road to be rocky along the way. Heard that one before?

This is by a director who made his living making commercials - it shows in his visual style. He has some talent in this area, but he should have left the writing to someone else.

A bunch of people trying to tell us what Joseph Campbell was telling us. If you really want to hear the great man's message, do yourself a favor and watch any of these instead:

The Hero's Journey: The World of Joseph Campbell (1987) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093183

Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth (1988) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0296362

Mythos (1985) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389663

Joseph Campbell: Sukhavati (2005) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2341386

Thinking Allowed: Understanding Mythology (1987)

Finding Joe is just — and there is no other way to put it — boring.

I saw some poor reviews and thought that I should add my $0.02. This movie is very inspiring and I highly recommended it to everybody.

This is definitely a diamond-in-the-rough type of movie. Just get it, watch it, and you will be inspired to follow your bliss.

One of the scenes talked about Joseph Campbell advice to his graduating students. He said "Don't do what Daddy says". Because Daddy has one interest in mind for you - your security. And if you bargain away your life for security now, you will NEVER find your bliss.

Joseph Campbel quote: "The job of science is to give you an image of the universe - what it's like, what it actually is like. This changes from decade to decade. There's no science that says, "I've found the truth." It's a working hypothesis and the next season we'll have another structure. The problem of mythology is to relate that found truth the the actual living of a life. The myth has to deal with the cosmology of the day and it's no good when it's based on a cosmology that's out of date. That's one of our problems. I don't see any conflict between religion and science. Religion has to accept the science of the day and penetrate it to the mystery. The conflict is between the science of 2000 BC and the science of 2000 AD. This is one of the problems with our tradition, where our inherited mythology, the Judeo-Christian tradition, relates to the near east in the first millennium BC and has nothing to do with life here. Everything has to be explained. A mythological image that has to be explained to the brain is not working. When you move through a culture field that is so alien to your own that the images don't click on a response and a recognition then you're out of sync."

Inspiring and insightful.

It reveals a depth of the human experience that reminds us of our own personal "call to adventure"---to living our life in bliss, alive, and amazingly fulfilled.... and the journey we take in getting there.

For example, if you remember back to a time when you were a teenager, when you we were all coming of age, seeking independence from our parents, and first striking out on our own. We may or may not have know what we desired in venturing out into the world alone, but we all felt that healthy sense of anxiety and yet a deep profound knowing inside that even though it may be scary, we must forge ahead and venture out in the world and create a life for ourselves. This is our journey, our common path that binds us together. It is expressed in our stories and movies over and over and over again, and provides the access to life fulfilled.

It spoke to the voice inside me of my higher purpose, a sense of something bigger than myself, a sense of what we are all here for. A sense of fulfillment and trusting in this journey we call life.

It was deeply moving and touches on the quiet truth that we all have inside, our highest and best selves longing to be unearthed and the story of it unfolding.

Interviews and message is interesting, yet the visuals are so bad! Painful to watch andso poorly shot. Could be shorter as well given the message.

Deserve a re-edit cutting out the appaling filming .