Welcome back to the blog readers. If there is one thing that I take seriously, it is mental health. Mental health is something that everybody should be caring about because everybody at least once in their life will struggle with their mental health, and I believe Joker (2019) did not serve that purpose as effectively as it could have. While the final 20 minutes of that film are brilliant and what I believe got Joaquin Phoenix his Oscar, the rest was a convoluted chaos machine. Would I think the same of this film, or would I be thinking more positively? Stick around to find out.
Joker: Folie à Deux was directed by Todd Phillips from a screenplay by Phillips and Scott Silver, based on characters from DC Comics. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, and Zazie Beetz. In the film, set two years after his murder of Murray Franklin, Arthur Fleck is facing prosecution and the increase in fame he has received when he meets Lee Quinzel, a woman who will change the trajectory of his life.
Like I said in the intro, I was not the biggest fan of the first film because I do not think the filmmakers told the story of mental health as effectively as they could have. Although the film is popular as hell (to the tune of a billion-dollar gross), I was curious to see what they would do when they brought musical elements to the sequel. Unfortunately, I agree with most of the critics and audience members who do not like this film. The story completely falls flat on its face and has nothing of note to say. The musical elements in this film are completely and utterly pointless. Although the two lead performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga are solid.
I want to start by talking about the performance of Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck / Joker. This is a role that regardless of what you thought of the first film garnered him critical acclaim and an Academy Award for his performance as the Clown Prince of Crime. I loved how he embraced this broken character in all his brokenness the first time around, but this film does not take the risks with Joker that the last film did. While Phoenix does act his ass off in this film, the substance personally is not there. This is an example of an actor not getting the best material but still acing it in his role. He is given some insane stuff to do and he absolutely nails it.
Next I want to talk about the performance of Lady Gaga as Lee Quinzel / Harley Quinn. I want to say something right now that not many of you may agree with, but I want to let you know that I think Lady Gaga was absolutely robbed for her performance in A Star is Born (2018) (one of my favorite films of all time) at the Oscars the year before Phoenix won Best Actor. I have been itching for her to take a role that she could sink her teeth into and excel in. And I think this iteration of Harley Quinn is that for her. She plays this character with so much confidence and so much class that would make her character in A Star is Born jealous. She was so passionate and personality that she won't win any awards for this role but it will be remembered for a while.
Now we need to talk about the story of this film, because it sure is a doozy of one. The first film had a story that tried to take on the stigma of mental health and how the world is not ready to handle someone with mental health and mental disability issues. And while I think the culmination of that message (aka the final 20 minutes of the film) was rock solid, the overall execution was all over the place. This film, however, has nothing new to say in terms of themes and story because it feels like a bunch of random story events happening for no real reason other than just to fill up time. I really do feel bad for everybody involved because it really makes no sense.
Finally, we get to the musical elements of this film. When we learned there would be musical elements in this film, I really did not know what to think about them. Normally in a musical film, the music is used as an accessory to the dialogue to be able to tell the story. Take a film like The Greatest Showman (2017) for example. The music is an aide to the story in the sense that it assists in telling the story. In this film, however, the music does no such thing. While I do like some of the musical numbers in the film (such as "Gonna Build a Mountain" and "To Love Somebody"), none of these numbers enhance or assist the dialog in telling the story. In this film, the music is an interruption of the story and feels completely out of place in the narrative. Sucks because when a musical film is done right, it can be really good.
To conclude my thoughts, Joker: Folie à Deux is an unnecessary mess that features solid performances but also music that feels completely out of place. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.
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