Joker: Folie á Deux - Joke's On Us

Whoever cut the trailers deserves an Oscar!

Woah, what a weekend. Following Todd Philipps' Joker's critical and box-office success five years ago, he and Phoenix decided to recreate the magic with a musical sequel, or were they? Easily one of the year's most anticipated films premiered at Venice early last month to tepid, polarized reviews steamrolling any or all momentum this film had at the box office or Academy Awards. This past weekend saw the film utterly tank, raking in around 40 million dollars after an expected 120 million pre-Venice prediction. Philipps has made the most anti-audience film he can imagine with the public relentlessly bashing it, earning a paltry D CinemaScore. Not that ratings can truly gauge a film’s impact, but it’s been met with outright abuse. Is Joker: Folie á Deux as bad as they say?

Leaving off where the first film ended (spoilers ahead for Joker), Arthur Fleck is incarcerated at Arkham Asylum after killing multiple people, including Robert DeNiro live on television. Attaining celebrity status from the killings, Fleck’s Joker persona attracted the disenfranchised of Gotham to make Fleck a symbol for their revolution against the “system”. While incarcerated, Fleck has lost the energy he derived from the Joker identity, medicated and berated by both guards and inmates alike. He tells jokes to the guards, one played by Brendan Gleeson, in exchange for cigarettes and consults with his lawyer, played by Catherine Keener, for advice on his pending trial to determine whether he gets the chair. On his relatively best behavior, he’s encouraged to join a co-ed group singing therapy group where he meets Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Harley Quinn) brought to the screen by Lady Gaga. She claims to be an arsonist who burned her mother’s apartment building in the same neighborhood he grew up in. They immediately bond as Lee romanticizes Fleck’s Joker for the crimes he committed, springing an improbable relationship. Lee leaves the ward after some time and Fleck gears up for his much-publicized trial (the first televised in Gotham) with Arthur growing more and more confident knowing he has a love on the other side. The rest of the film documents the ensuing courtroom drama, exploring the relationship between Fleck the individual, and Joker the myth. Oh and did I mention it was a musical?

Well, sort of. While it has certainly been advertised as a musical interpretation of the Joker universe, it’s more or less a crime thriller with musical elements, occasionally characters break into song, albeit sung realistically off-key. Then, there are moments when Fleck daydreams lavish sets while he dances aside Gaga. That’s it. Being a jukebox musical, none of the songs are original with many coming from the first film’s soundtrack. As I mentioned last month, Phillips said beforehand that he wanted to approach the material the same way Scorsese did with New York, New York where he blended realistic method acting from the school of Kazan with the lavish costumes and sets of a Vincente Minnelli musical. That film was met with lackluster critical reception where it failed to balance between the two opposing tones. Unfortunately, much can be said here too. Many of the songs feel out of place, rarely justifying their existence. The musical genre is played very safely by Philipps, as the songs never catch your attention or are choreographed to the same detail as the MGM musicals he allegedly draws from. On a meta-level, the musical genre may fit, using it to express Fleck’s fantasies equating his Joker persona with entertainment for the masses. However, as a final product on the screen, it’s very underwhelming. None of the songs work as an emotional escape for these characters to fall in love with (either for real or in Fleck’s head). Escape is an essential component of the musical genre especially one supposedly centered on a romance, even a mad one. However, more concerning is the lack of romance or chemistry between Phoenix and Gaga. 

While possibly (or likely) intentional, Phillips opts not to capitalize on the romance angle either in the music or the story itself. There are large portions of the movie where Lady Gaga is put to the side, a role so supporting and undercooked that at times you question her presence. Underused is a kinder word for it. Gaga’s Oscars hopes remain in the air. More than Oscar Gold, it’s a bit astounding that a film that has marketed itself as a two-parter with Phoenix and Gaga gracing the posters and the title itself roughly translating to “madness for two” barely has the two together. The lack of romance is in line with the film’s nihilist downer tone carried from the first film. Not exactly conducive to a romantic musical. This is where the balance between grit and artifice goes awry. Phillips uses the romance not to further the characters but to destroy the Joker image. It’s revealed Lee is in love with the showboat asshole persona Arthur Fleck projects through Joker i.e. the criminal image that the public use for their entertainment. Not the fragile, broken soul of the serially alone Fleck. It’s Phillips’ way of poo-pooing on storybook love the very thing the musical genre is built on. A truly downer way of looking at the world that feels more like meta-commentary straight from the filmmaker’s mouth rather than the characters. It’s an interesting approach that isn’t developed with any discipline, something he accomplished in the first film by copying what made Scorsese and Schrader’s films work. Alas, Phillips is neither of them. If I were behind the reigns, I’d have presented Harley Quinn as the love of Arthur Fleck’s life, engrossing the audience in the fairy tale where she reawakens the Joker inside Fleck, allowing him to fully embrace his cooked-up identity. Then, maybe they go on some musically-infused Bonnie and Clyde spree until at some point Harley takes away the confidence her love has given Joker, hanging him dry. Would that work? I don’t know but it could have made the film both poignant and fun. What I do know is if Phillips had committed to the central romance, it would have made his deconstruction of Joker’s identity more emotionally tragic. 

The focus is instead diverted toward the courtroom drama where Phillips explores the mythos and fantasy of the criminal literally. Joker is presented as the modern criminal of the mass media age, likely someone who would get their own Netflix series from Ryan Murphy. Fleck is treated to an audience akin to the Manson girls, idolizing him out of proportion possibly as a conduit for those who misinterpreted the first film. However, these scenes are less interesting than they may sound. Choosing a courtroom drama is one of the most uninspired choices Phillips could have taken to deconstruct the Joker mythology. Literally and metaphorically wiping the makeup off Arthur Fleck’s face, Phillips exposes the character as nothing but a mentally ill individual with childhood trauma desperate for love, not a voice for the voiceless. Just a cooked-up media personality. I don’t know who needs to hear that. I think intelligent people who watched the first film could tell it was a cautionary tale, those who didn’t can be ignored for all I care. The ambiguity of the first film’s approach, albeit ripped from Taxi Driver, told the story subjectively. With life. This feels like nothing more than commentary, rendering the entire experience dramatically inert. It’s almost like Phillips and Phoenix made this film for people to stop liking the “wrong” character, even physically humiliating and abusing the character to catalyze Fleck’s renunciation of the Joker. A truly befuddling scene (iykyk). 

Regardless, Joker: Folie á Deux does nothing to truly stand out against the original. It’s as if they’ve sucked everything they could out of this character, world and story. Exploring the sensationalism drawn from criminals is an admirable direction, but the final ten minutes of Joker already imply what Phillips spends two hours deconstructing. Even the novelty of this particular style and genre has worn off. When Joker came out it was unique because it was a superhero film that rejected the normal structure of one, masking an art film with DC iconography. While Phillips’ latest is certainly new in many ways, it also uses the same superhero branding to mask an art film once more. A deviation upon an existing deviation. Subverting expectations cannot be the end all be all. It’d be a different story if this sequel felt separate from the original, but it sucks on it like a leech. It’s in constant dialogue with the first film. Either responding to critics of the first film or attacking audiences who misinterpreted it. It’s tailor-made for people who can’t separate the morality of the character from the film’s mere depiction, turning the camera on the audience. Opting for a less subjective point of view, it becomes difficult to empathize with the character the way we did the first time around. Phillips believes that was a flaw, I recognize it as a strength to engross us completely in the mind of a broken and disturbed person. The worldview Phillips carries over falls flat since it isn’t guided by the central character. What we’re left with is an unengaging meta-commentary on the audience’s gravitation to a sicko like Arthur Fleck. 

While it’s clear to me Phillips’ approach didn’t work, it certainly takes guts to make a film so anti-public. This is the least commercial commercial film. It’s purely because Phillips wanted to challenge the audience’s perception of his titular character, destroying its image on purpose. Reminding the ones who saw Joker as an unsung hero, that their lives are just sad and pathetic. It’s a bold move. He rarely entertains, forcing us to wrestle with our thoughts. It’s a low bar that a film deserves praise for challenging audiences, still a tall task for an audience inundated with superhero crap. Phillips is hell-bent on playing a cruel joke against the people who made his first film successful, however, he becomes over-reliant on the first film to make his point. Thus, Folie á Deux never gets to carve its own identity. There’s still a chance this hated film may launch Oscars, it’s visually stunning with great production design, costumes, and an interesting score that melds the drama of Herrmann with the sweetness of Jukebox music. If Joker was about the rise of populism in our backyard, Folie á Deux is about those genuinely calling for help against the system becoming coopted by the public. The original caught lightning in a bottle coming out at the correct political moment amongst a swarm of successful superhero films, a genre that’s lost its relevance. The sequel is not as experimental or offensive enough to stand out in front of the original, but it’s a commendable effort I’ve seen too easily dismissed. Still, Phillips doesn’t have the juice nor direction to effectively say what he wants to, meandering for two hours and eighteen minutes. It’s certainly undeserving of the outright vitriol and is nowhere near the worst superhero film ever. There’s a chance Folie á Deux will live on, leaving the CinemaScores and Box Office in the dust. Or not. All I’ll say is it takes guts to work against the audience, but sometimes you need em. [2.25/4]