We use music to make us whole.
Bloody, brilliant, relentless and unexpected, JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX (madness of two in French) is a powerhouse of originality that's better than the first film. But based on the semi-full IMAX audience I saw it with last night, I will likely be an outlier with that opinion.
If you come into the film expecting a standard comic book or DC film, you weren't paying attention to Writer/Director Todd Phillips' 2019 mega-hit "Joker". That film was depressing, dark and moody. Phillips hasn't just doubled down on the sequel, he's created an abyss-deep dive into mental illness, villain worship and criminal celebrity and then wrapped it in the trappings of an MGM musical on the most downtrodden of Gotham's back streets.
The film opens with a vintage looking Warner Bros cartoon featuring The Joker trying to escape from some decidedly violent Keystone Cops. Didn't see that coming. Phillips is just getting started.
Joaquin Phoenix is back as Arthur Fleck, still sitting in Arkham Prison two years after the events of the original film. His trial for five murders approaches. He seems to have carved out an existence in the harshest call block, rewarded with cigarettes by lead guard Jackie Sullivan (the always excellent Brendan Gleeson) if he tells him a joke of the day.
Phoenix is a brilliant actor and shows no sophomore slump in the role that won him a Best Actor Oscar the first time out. His transformation into the skeleton-like Fleck, bones and menace popping out of every inch of his skin, is jarring.
As Sullivan walks by Fleck's cell everyday, the guard is singing or whistling an old tune. Arthur begins to softly sing a line or two.
Fleck meets Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga) one day in a music therapy class taking place on the opposite side of the prison, the one where they're not keeping the homicidal maniacs.
They silently click.
Arthur begins to find his voice and the film slides in and out of Fleck/The Joker's fantasies, in which he and Lee sing duets. They start out small, intimate.
But as the film goes on, the musical sequences in Fleck's head get more grandiose and fleshed out. Voices grow stronger, duets expand.
After 'A Star is Born" and "House of Gucci", we know Gaga has the acting skills to match her incredible pipes. She's excellent here as Lee, who finds a kindred soul in Fleck.
Simultaneously, Arthur's trial approaches. His lawyer Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener) works to show that Arthur and The Joker are two very different people living in Arthur's head. The film ponders that possibility in many different ways and kept me fascinated.
The entire second half of the film depicts the trial and it's packed with dramatic moments and at least a dozen courtroom comments or expressions from The Joker that made me laugh out loud. He's disturbed, twisted and living in his own fragile reality. I loved the scene between Fleck and his former good friend/fellow clown Gary Puddles (Leigh Gill) on the witness stand. I challenge you to think of a dialogue scene as well written as that sequence in recent memory. It's funny, painfully sad, suspenseful and dramatic, whipping between all of those emotions with dark speed.
The conclusion of the trial and the end of the film are a powerful black hole. Will it be too much for most viewers? Based on the lot I saw it with, yes. A dozen got up and walked out when it was apparent the film was ending. They didn't wait for the credits.
The buzz today is "It's boring!" "It's a musical!" "It's so bad!".
Not in my eyes.
I am tired of sitting through another same old, same-old "The Marvels" or endless Disney Star Wars spin offs. Phillips, Phoenix and Gaga had the balls to create something wholly original with this sequel. Is it loaded with action? No.
Does it require the ability to have an attention span longer than a Tik Tok video? Thankfully, YES.
It's an acting powerhouse.
The cinematography by Lawrence Sher (Joker, Black Adam) captures the light and the darkness and the music score by Hildur Guonadottir (Joker, A Death in Venice) blasts through you in IMAX, adding to the tension.
By the second half, the musical numbers are full throated and BIG. Phoenix showed his singing skills as Johnny Cash in "Walk the Line" and goes toe to toe with Gaga fearlessly.
In these scenes, it feels like an old Sinatra & Martin rat-pack musical, with a dash of Astaire & Rogers.
All the songs were sung live for filming, no easy task.
My favorite song, "Gonna Build a Mountain" sees Gaga in full sixties nightclub Vegas glitz and Phoenix dancing his ass off in the classic red Joker suit. As the song builds to a crescendo, Joker and Lee exude sheer joy. It's such an island of positive emotion in the film that you experience Arthur's fantasy in the peak of his happiness, then are immediately dropped back into his filthy, horrific reality.
It's a steep and damaging fall.
Phoenix's rendition of "The Joker is Me" in the courtroom blew me away as well. I would love to see Phoenix nominated again for an Oscar as Fleck. He's incredible.
And is there ANYTHING that Gaga can't do? Her career choices are landing her one of the most diverse resumes in recent film history.
For me, JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX tops the first film by the sheer jet black will of its creative team to carve something VERY different out of familiar clay. I loved it and can't wait to see it again.
But I might be the only one. A+
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