Shadows on the Wall | Joker: Folie a Deux

Joker: Folie à Deux

dir Todd Phillips
scr Scott Silver, Todd Phillips
prd Todd Phillips, Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Joseph Garner
with Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey, Leigh Gill, Ken Leung, Jacob Lofland,Bill Smitrovich, Sharon Washington
release US/UK 4.Oct.24
24/US Warners 2h18

VENICE FILM FEST

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Overlong but more finely tuned than the 2019 genre-bending drama, this sequel inventively swirls around musical sequences that use timeless standards to dig into the mentally unhinged fantasy lives of two central characters. Indeed, the title refers to a shared delusion, and filmmaker Todd Phillips doubles down on the bleakness, while Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga deliver fierce performances as two violently unstable people who find each other.

Awaiting trial for murder, Arthur (Phoenix) is in a high-security mental hospital. His jailer (Gleeson) arranges for him to take a singing class, in which he is instantly smitten with Lee (Gaga). Together they share fantastical musical moments that get increasingly lurid as Arthur begins skipping his meds, making it tricky as his lawyer (Keener) tries to prepare to defend him. Because Arthur's murders were so public, the trial threatens to become a circus, with crowds of his fans cheering outside the courthouse. And falling in love with Lee hints at a possible future.

A pervasively grim atmosphere extends from the prison grubbiness to Arthur's bony appearance. The only moments of escape come in the lavish music numbers featuring classics from Get Happy to Close to You performed with big emotions and sometimes flashy choreography. As in most of these scenes, a pastiche variety show performance of To Love Somebody veers from funny to horrific, as the script dives into mental illness with very little hope. There are unspeakably violent moments, thankfully with the worst parts left off-screen. And the ultimate emotion is aching sadness.

Phoenix invests his entire physicality, creating a fascinating sliding scale between the loner Arthur and his grandstanding Joker alter-ego. Several sequences are dazzling in this sense, and he pours the same complexity into his musical performances. Gaga is also excellent, grounding Lee in earthy realism even when she becomes larger-than-life. Other characters remain in the margins, providing a range of tonal intensity, with standout moments for Gleeson's smiling-but-brutal guard and Coogan's pushy TV journalist.

Essentially an experimental film profiling a couple of seriously disturbed people, the script doesn't have much to say about mental illness or the social issues that cause such deep trauma. Instead, Phillips and cowriter Silver are more interested in playing around with murderous impulses. So the more colourful fantasies have a strong impact even if they seem to feed into an increasing sense of desolate murkiness. It's a strikingly well-assembled film, but it leaves us feeling empty.

themes, language, violence 4.Oct.24

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