Taking place two years after the events of the first one, Joker: Folie a Deux, follows Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), who is glumly residing in Arkham State Hospital, and eventually finds love in a fellow patient, Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga), and ventures into his very own love story as he prepares for a trial that could determine his fate.
Even as someone who has followed the film industry for a long time, no one was more surprised than me when Todd Phillips’ Joker, a film that owed much more to 1970s-era Martin Scorsese than to the character’s comic book origins, cracked the billion-dollar mark at the box office. The property name got people into the theater, but they stayed for the harrowing examination of a put-upon individual’s psyche and how their circumstances in life can cause them to eventually snap. The film received a slightly more mixed reception than one might think but still managed to score 11 Oscar nominations, winning Best Actor and Best Original Score. Now, its hotly-anticipated sequel, Joker: Folie a Deux, has arrived in theaters to a considerably more negative reception, as well as a much lower box office gross in the early going. However, even with all of this going into it, I may have a different take than most people.
I was willing to defend this movie to a few friends that I saw it with as we came out of the theater. I was not someone who fell in love with the first film in the way that some people did. I think it is an okay screenplay (featuring homages to Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy that were so upfront it became distracting) that is elevated by the technical aspects and Joaquin Phoenix’s fantastic, Oscar-winning performance. This second film is just as dark as the first one, but it is also offset by the use of the style and iconography of classic Hollywood musicals, as many musical numbers are featured throughout. These songs serve a purpose though, mainly acting as the communication of the shared delusions that Arthur and Lee have about becoming the stars they believe they are meant to be. Many of them are staged in such a way that it makes them look completely insane to the world while they feel nothing but happiness.
When talking to SNU student Tyler Sweeden, he expressed that he liked the musical elements even more than I did, saying that Arthur’s world “centers around receiving the attention he so desperately craves,” and the stage acts as that vessel for him to reach that level of fame. This is a crucial aspect of this movie working, and even though I am not saying that Todd Phillips should be a musical director, he had a clear goal with this film’s aesthetic and was very successful at it.
In addition, I believe that this continues Arthur’s arc in a fascinating and brilliant way. Many people were going into this expecting the comic-accurate Joker and Harley Quinn to be running rampant throughout Gotham City, myself included in some ways, and I believe it was mainly due to the marketing setting up a few false expectations. This is not, and never was, the Joker from the comics, who had a clown shtick, but also had a love of creating chaos and an anarchic sense of planning for his crimes. Arthur Fleck is a mentally disturbed, deeply broken man who snapped and killed people out of a desire to be loved, never really even wanting to become a symbol for anything. He is a pitiful human being, and every time you see Arthur try to let the Joker out, his legs are swept out from under him in a very intentional way on Phillips’ part. This is also a credit to Phoenix, who is once again doing fantastic work as this character, providing some new dimensions to what he really wants in his life.
When it comes to the other things I found to be interesting, I felt that Lady Gaga, despite not having as much screen time as one might think, does very good work as this version of Harley Quinn. My other favorite performance in the film, however, is from Leigh Gill, who returns from the first film as Arthur’s former co-worker, Gary Puddles. Despite only showing up for one scene, he makes that one scene count and delivers a heartbreaking performance of someone who was deeply psychologically affected by the events from the first film. Additionally, I think that other than Phoenix, the true star of this franchise is cinematographer Lawrence Sher. Through both films, he continuously delivers striking visuals that run the gamut from an artificial rooftop that echoes old musicals to an image of Arthur huddled in his prison cell with only one sliver of light illuminating him. He scored an Oscar nomination for “Best Cinematography” for the last movie, and I honestly hope he gets another for this one.
Now, despite my more positive feelings on the film than most, it is not perfect. The biggest issue that I have with the film is some aspects of the screenplay. This story is messier than the first one, which comes from reaching for something as big as this film does, and Phillips and his co-writer Scott Silver make some very odd choices in order for the characters to end up where they do. Granted, I love where they end up on a macro level, but I think there were a few story developments that made the conclusion a little bloated and more complicated than needed. Further, while I mostly enjoyed the musical aspect of the film, some numbers were extraneous and felt like they were just doing them to lean into the genre.
When talking to SNU student Zach Moore after seeing the film together, he felt that the “music portions served little to no purpose to the actual movie itself.” I do not agree with that sentiment, but I do understand where he is coming from. I do think that if the filmmakers had tightened up that aspect of the film, it could have been truly great.
Even with the reception that has turned this into the redheaded stepchild of the comic book genre, I stand by my positive feelings toward the film. It is a messier film than the first, but it is also more ambitious and interesting. Honestly, even if it did not work for me, I would still much rather have a big swing like this, rather than something completely generic.
Photo by Jacob Mash