Tag: Joker

Joker Folie à Deux Review: Folly à Deux.

Joker was one of my favorite films of 2019.
It had an excellent lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix, fantastic cinematography from Lawrence Sher, and a haunting score by Hildur Guðnadóttir. 
However, after watching it, I believed it did not need a sequel.
The story seemed perfectly wrapped up, yet open ended, so I figured there was no reason to make one.
Well, the studio definitely had a reason to when the film grossed over a billion dollars.
Fans of the first movie’s concern only grew when news that the sequel would be a musical started floating around.
When I heard this, though, it actually made me feel a little optimistic.
It showed me that those making the film were taking a risk rather than playing it safe.
The trailers also made the movie look great.
But, as we all know, trailers can be deceiving and, when Joker: Folie à Deux finally released, it received a less than positive reaction to say the least.
This did make me more curious about what I would think of the film, though.
Would I agree with the masses and dislike it, or would I be in the minority and find it to be misunderstood?
Unfortunately, I am with the masses on this one. 

Although there are great things about Folie à Deux, like the cinematography seen here, the majority of it is an absolute mess.

Directed again by Todd Phillips, Folie à Deux takes place two years after the first movie.
Arthur Fleck is in Arkham Asylum, waiting for his trial where, if found guilty, he could receive the death penalty.
It is in Arkham that he meets Harley Quinn, or Lee as she is called in the movie, played by Lady Gaga.
The two form a connection, as the film details Arthur’s life in Arkham and his trial, interspacing this storyline with various poorly timed musical numbers.
But I will get to that issue later.
First, I want to talk about the positives of this movie.
For starters, the performances are all great, with Phoenix once again delivering an excellent performance.
Lady Gaga is pretty much just there to sing and she has a great voice, so she obviously does a great job with that.
Brendan Gleeson is also pretty good as an abusive guard at Arkham.
The standout performance for me though was unexpectedly Leigh Gill as Gary Puddles, Arthur’s former coworker who played a minor role in the first film.
He returns to testify at Arthur’s trial and Gill’s performance is mesmerizing, as he details the trauma Arthur’s actions have unleashed upon him. 

This scene did an excellent job of showing the damage Arthur has done to innocent people’s lives.

Sher’s cinematography is also once again spectacular, as is Guðnadóttir’s score, with what little we hear of it due to the musical numbers.
And it is here I have to get into the many negatives of the film.
Sadly, these musical numbers almost always feel pointless and poorly placed.
There is one during the trial where I thought the music and Phoenix’s performance showed what was going on in Arthur’s head really well but, otherwise, if you remove them all, nothing changes about the movie.
They usually felt like a waste of time, and it got to the point that I actually chuckled when one character asked another to “stop singing” near the end of the film. 

Turns out my optimism about this film being a musical was definitely misplaced.

Along with the issue of the musical numbers, there is the general unfocus of the movie’s story.
Arthur and Lee’s relationship feels entirely underdeveloped.
Lee serves as a representation of women who bizarrely fall in love with real life murderers but, other than that, there is zero characterization for her.
As a result, Lady Gaga feels pretty underused.

It is weird how lackluster Gaga’s character feels, given that the movie’s title, Folie à Deux, literally translates to a shared madness. Arthur’s madness is really the only one which receives any focus in the movie.

The court room scenes pretty much just recount events which we all saw in the first movie, so they hold no interest.
That leaves the Arkham scenes, which are just so bleakly depressing, even for a Joker film.
Speaking of, I do not even know if we can call this a “Joker film,” given how little the character is present.
The first film centered around Arthur’s disturbing metamorphosis into the Clown Prince of Crime, yet the sequel strangely decides to focus on the destruction of that persona, making that original movie feel pointless in hindsight, especially with the ending they chose.  

This scene from the trailer does not appear in the movie, making me wonder if they changed the ending, although I may be reading a bit too much into that.

Along with this, Folie à Deux also removes a lot of the intrigue from the first film.
In Joker, there were many scenes which were left up to the audience’s interpretation over whether they were real or not.
Folie à Deux, however, unnecessarily tells the audience what was real in that movie, destroying a lot of its ambiguity.
It would be like if Christopher Nolan decided to make a sequel to Inception and revealed if the spinning top really fell at the end or not.
It would remove the impact of that film’s ending, just like Folie à Deux takes away a lot of the intrigue from Joker‘s ambiguity.

The iconic final act of Joker works a lot better if you don’t know there’s a sequel.

Joker: Folie à Deux is a poorly thought-out sequel.
It may have great performances, cinematography and score, but that means little when the story is so disorganized, has poorly placed musical numbers and, worst of all, arguably weakens the prior amazing film just by existing. 
If you are a fan of the first film, like I am, this is definitely a folly you should skip. 

 

Joker Review: Amazing Film, Annoying Controversy.

5 stars
When I first heard that there would be a Joker origin film, I was pretty concerned.
The Joker is usually depicted as a character with an unclear and self described “multiple choice” backstory, so I felt it would be weird to give him a clear one.
And then I saw the trailers, which absolutely floored me.
Everything about the movie looked great in those trailers, from Joaquin Phoenix’s performance, to the story, to the cinematography.
However, I still went into the film with a touch of hesitation because I have seen plenty of movies with amazing trailers that turned out to not be very good (I am looking at you Godzilla: King of the Monsters).
But, you know what?
The trailers were accurate.
Joker is an absolutely incredible movie and Phoenix and director Todd Phillips deserve all the praise for it.
The film tells the story of Arthur Fleck, an impoverished man who lives with his mentally unwell mother (Frances Conroy), and has a disorder that causes him to laugh uncontrollably when he is nervous.

poor arthur
Arthur’s laughing disorder was a stroke of genius, with it being painfully evident how much is hurts him both socially and physically.

As Arthur get beaten down by others again and again, he begins to hit back in increasingly violent ways, eventually leading to him becoming the infamous Joker.
First of all, I have to praise Phoenix for his amazing performance here.
He definitely deserves to get nominated for an Oscar, at the very least.
I was equal parts terrified of him and sympathetic towards him throughout the course of the film.

Arthur Fleck.jpg
Phoenix’s portrayal of the Joker is right up there with Heath Ledger and Mark Hamill in levels of greatness.

And, (I shouldn’t have to say this but apparently I do) no, Arthur being sympathetic does not glorify the violence he commits.
There is so much controversy surrounding Joker that I feel it has hit the height of absurdity.
At no time does it feel like the film is condoning Arthur’s horrific and evil actions, rather it portrays them in a tragic light with his slow descent into madness.
Arthur may think his life is a comedy by the film’s end but it is definitely a tragedy in my eyes, with the film commenting on the role everyone plays in what he becomes.
The film does not encourage violent people to strike out, rather it shows us the consequences of not getting help for these people, serving as a cautionary tale.
And, with that, my rant about the ridiculous controversy is over and I can get on with the rest of the review.
Along with Phoenix’s performance, there are many other brilliant things about the film.
The story takes many interesting twists and turns, with other actors Robert De Niro and Zazie Beetz doing great jobs.
Along with this, the film is supported by the amazing cinematography and soundtrack, which are both also Oscar worthy.

cinematography 1.jpg
The way the cinematography frames Arthur as he slowly begins to transform into the Joker across the film is brilliantly handled.

Hildur Guðnadóttir, who also composed the Chernobyl miniseries soundtrack, wrote the soundtrack for Joker and it is absolutely flawless.
It was not something I was expecting to be so entranced by going in, so it was a very pleasant surprise.
If I had to give any criticisms to the film it would be the ending, specifically the final scene.
I distinctly remember sitting in the theater, being absolutely enthralled by the second to last scene and thinking, “if it ends here then this movie will be a masterpiece.”
However, the movie does not end there because there is an additional scene which, at first, I did not really appreciate.
After looking up some info about the ending, though, I do see what Phillips was trying to convey with it.
I still think the movie should have ended with that second to last scene because it really helped to emphasize the tragedy of Arthur Fleck.
That said, though, I cannot say that the final scene was bad or that it did not work within the context of the film, so I won’t be deducting any points from it.
Overall, Joker is my favourite film of the year so far.
It is dark, twisted, and deeply uncomfortable, but in all the right ways.