The sequel to 2019’s ‘Joker’ is the most talked-about title of this year’s Venice Film Festival. This time, Lady Gaga teams up with director Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix for something that’s not a straight psychological thriller, but a semi-jukebox musical. A bold tactic. Too bad it doesn’t turn out well.
The long-awaited continuation of the film Todd Phillips winner of the Golden Lion and the Oscar is here and… Well, better not to frown. ‘Joker: Folie à deux‘It’s not so much a triumphant return as a clumsiness.
We meet Arthur Fleck again (Joaquin Phoenix) in it Asilo Arkham. He is awaiting trial for the murder of five people and is being targeted for a class of music therapy. Apparently that’s the reward for take medication and behave well.
A predictable movie
There he meets Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga), a pyromaniac who is a big fan of the Joker, is not afraid to lie when she needs to and has everything planned. The couple embarks on a bad romance in which there is no shortage of Golden Age Hollywood successes.
“I love it,” says Arthur. “Do you get me”.
Let’s see, does it? Or is she pulling his leg?
‘Joker: Folie à deux‘ begins promisingly with a tribute to the Looney Tunes. We have a cartoon titled ‘My shadow and me‘, the first of many dichotomous references, as it turns out that the titular folie may not be the shared delirium between Arthur and Lee, but the power struggle between Arthur and his alter ego Joker. That is, without a doubt, the multiple personality disorder defense that Arthur’s lawyer (Catherine Keener) intends to defend as the “Trial of the Century“.
It must be recognized that ‘Joker: Folie à deux‘does the opposite of what you would expect from a sequel of the Joker; not only contains musical numbersbut it is also a (mediocre) prison work and a (tedious) courtroom drama that fools fans of the first film.
Very poorly written, empty and gimmicky show
Especially those who misunderstood the Joker. “Let’s give the people what they want,” Lee whispers to Arthur during a fantasy musical number… To Phillip’s credit, he avoids doing that throughout, becoming ‘Joker: Folie à deux‘in a clumsy missile aimed at toxic fan culture through wasted metatextual references about Arthur’s constant need to be reassured about the quality of the film made about him after he was arrested, and certainly through Lee’s character.
It is an unexpected tactic, but one that quickly turns out to be predictable and very poorly written. Despite the threads that touch on the warped delusions of the collective unconscious, the cult of personality and how no one cares about the man behind the makeup, ‘Joker: Folie à deux‘ it’s a empty and gimmicky show in extreme.
A cocktail of ‘The King of Comedy’ + ‘Taxi Driver’
The fantasy musical numbers are very well shot by the director of photography Lawrence Sherbut as they accumulate, they become repetitive and half-hearted, lacking verve and madness. And when you put aside the excellent work by the Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir in favor of disappointing musical scenes, something has gone very wrong, especially when its score was one of the best parts of the first film.
A bolder statement would have been to turn it into a full-fledged musical or even reverse the focus by having the story unfold entirely from Lee’s perspective. So things are, Lady Gaga she feels wasted as a supporting actress rather than a headliner, and considering how intrinsic her character’s hybristophilic tendencies are to the film’s themes, this baffling decision proves Phillips in way over her head. Joker may have earned him (over)praise for fusing ‘The king of comedy‘ y ‘Taxi Driver‘, but this sequel shows that he is the biggest clown of everyone.
And a few songs as filler
His bold tactic of using songs and dance numbers it’s no usesince they hardly contribute anything to the narrative or the motivations of the characters; instead, they seem like the excuse the director needed to hire Gaga. Even worse, the songs chosen are so dumb that the sounds of ‘That’s Entertainment’, ‘I’ve Got the World on a String’, ‘What the World Needs Now’ and ‘Gonna Build A Mountain’ are complaint-worthy and suggest that Phillips didn’t know what to make of the plot and just included a few songs to fill the screen time.
The Phoenix’s dedication to the role is impressive (he looks even thinner than in the first movie, with his protruding shoulder blades threatening to put out your eyes at any time), but little adds to his Oscar-winning performance. Not even his best work can save Phillips and co-writer Scott Silver’s attempts to be innovative and avant-garde.
“I don’t want to sing anymore,” she pleads with Lee in the film’s final moments. We are fed up too to hear it, Arthur.
Disappointing and strangely monotonous,’Joker: Folie à deux‘It may not give the people what they want, but it certainly doesn’t offer anything interesting in exchange. It’s not crazy that’s worth entertaining.
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Joker: Folie à deuxIt premiered at the 81st Venice Film Festival in the Competition section.
It hits theaters on October 4.
