Joker: Folie à Deux has been on my watch list for some time after I absolutely loved the first movie. The first film was an absolute rollercoaster ride and you never knew what was coming next.
With the second film, at any given moment I could almost guarantee what was coming next – another low-energy musical number.
The film features Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, AKA The Joker, and Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn, but it was a far cry from anything you would have actually expected.
I watched Joker at the Showcase Cinema De Lux, and as I lounged back in my seat ready to enjoy the second release of a film I loved so much the first time, I prepared myself for big things.
And while I understood what they were trying to do with the film, it just wasn’t it for me. I could immediately sense something was wrong by the look of the cinema. I’ve been to see a few films at Showcase over the past few months and every time I’ve been so impressed with how packed it’s been – it’s almost been too hard to get tickets! But as I sat in my seat to watch Joker, I realised I had an entire row to myself.
It seems other people had done more reading than I had on the film, I don’t like to spoil it where possible – and working in my job it’s hard to avoid those kinds of spoilers – so I had done little to no research.
I’m going to try and keep spoilers to an absolute minimum, but there may be some coming up, you’ve been warned!
Ultimately, the movie follows Arthur Fleck’s trial to determine his mental state, but in the process he meets Harley Quinn and amasses a fan club for The Joker.
The movie was very eccentric, up and down and point-blank confusing at times, which from a cinematic standpoint, I can see was done to reflect Arthur’s mental state. But as someone in the audience, watching in, I found myself asking: “What on earth just happened?” on multiple occasions.
One thing I didn’t expect was the amount of musical numbers in the film. It almost felt like every 10 minutes there was a new song and it just felt so random. One perk of this, however, was despite Gaga being in the film, she mastered the tone perfectly and didn’t come across as an already professional singer, just a young girl singing to her boyfriend.
When the film came to an abrupt end, I left the cinema feeling confused, as I already said, multiple occasions of “What on earth just happened?” sprung to mind, but I have to applaud how they portrayed Arthur’s mindset. I don’t think many people could really “follow” what was happening in the film, which is exactly what the producers seemed to want.
Overall, there have been a LOT of mixed reviews online, and it currently has a 33% Rotten Tomatoes score, compared to the 68% which the first film received.
Showcase Cinema De Lux Peterborough offers a free ticket for film fans who watch three films before the end of the year.
