Basically a real-life twist on Au Hasard Balthazar, the emotion emitting from every frame of this film was exponentially more affecting for me than Bresson’s film. Old Partner tracks the final months of an ox’s life and the owner(s) who are so dependent on him. The ox is owned by an elderly Korean couple, but mostly by the husband, who seems to be living his life for the sole purpose of caring for the ox. He farms and employs his wife to help him in order to feed the ox, much to his wife’s dismay. The relationship between the couple is cute and heartbreaking, as they exhibit the kind of crankiness and grumpiness toward each other that is stereotypical of the elderly, though they are constantly distraught that their time on Earth, and with each other, is reaching its end. Only the age of the ox is given in the film (approaching 40), but I’d have guessed that these people are nearing the century mark. The tragedy of seeing the ox eke out every last ounce of his life to pull these people around town, which it had undoubtedly done for every day of its 40 years, is so affecting because he is so loved by the owner; neglect and abuse would have made the film more about pity. The man is damn near deaf, missing/ignoring most of his wife’s rants, but is gripped and attentive when the ox makes a sound. He refuses to spray their crops with insecticides, which would make their farming a hell of a lot easier, and ease his and his wife’s lifestyles, because it would be unhealthy for the ox. As the film winds down, and the lives of the ox and his owners do the same, I had a lump in my throat that lasted through the rest of the night. The film is only diminished by a melodramatic score that is completely disposable – really, I would pay the filmmaker to take it out, it hurts some of the film’s best moments. Fables and timeless tales don’t come better written and more moving than this.