Preamble

For the curious, here’s a little peak behind the curtain. Typically, these days, I don’t write my preambles first. This is due to wanting to get to the review sharpish. But also, I do think the preambles should be off the cuff etc. So, what to say about Joker 2. Well, the first was one of the few films I’ve written about twice for the blog. And despite my great scepticism about a sequel, the casting of Lady Gaga as a reinterpreted Harley Quinn made me raise a curious eyebrow. So, with that said, have you seen Joker: Folie à Deux? If so, what did you think of it? Let me know in the comments below.

Review

During my last viewing of Joker, it struck me as a have your cake and eat it too kind of picture. By this, I mean that it’s delicately able to explore potent topics such as mental anguish, upper-class apathy and societal indifference whilst still having a villainous perspective. It felt like a self-created origin story for the Joker and his greatest arch-nemesis by the character himself, who was framing his story in the form of a twisted joke that appears like a tragedy to audiences. It’s because of this tight-wire act that a sequel seemed unnecessary. However, much to my surprise, Folie à Deux is an engaging sequel that contends with the labels we’re given by people and society at large.

The sequel occurs two years after the original and depicts a downtrodden Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) who lies rotting in Arkham Asylum. His demeanour changes when he meets a woman in musical therapy called Lee (Lady Gaga), who tries to convince Fleck of the virtues of the Joker persona. Their meetings are played amid the backdrop of a court case against Arthur for the crimes he committed in the first film.

If Joker was the dreamlike depiction of someone who finally becomes seen for the first time in their life, then Folie à Deux is the sobering prick of that fantastical balloon. By its very nature, the sequel destroys the ambiguity of the first film. But it’s not all for nought. Taking out the ending and flourishes that homage aspects of the Batman mythos, Arthur Fleck did not have much to say about his Joker persona in the first film. Instead, the omnipresent media attempts to paint the Joker persona in political terms. That fundamental conversation continues in Joker 2, whereby people and society at large project onto Arthur what he is versus the self-perception he has of himself.

In fact, the examination of the Joker persona turns into an amorphous social construct that people wield for their own ends. In a post-social media world, where some people stan celebrities and serious political discourse gets turned into a circus, the courtroom scenes being an inch away from farcical felt refreshing in their satire of something serious becoming entertainment.

At the same time, the fantasy aspect of the original gets retained uniquely. This comes in the form of the musical sequences that act as illustrations of how Arthur is dealing with his evolving relationship with Lee and the Joker persona. There’s something raw and palpable about these sequences that play like heartfelt karaoke on a grand stage. The highlight is “The Joker” in which Arthur vents his frustration and anger with the court proceedings in full Joker costume. It compares favourably with the trippy dance sequence at the tail end of the first film.

Todd Philips is also quite sly in his filmmaking in this sequence. The opening of the song that depicts the Joker in a spotlight evokes the famous live album cover for Johnny Cash’s “At San Quentin” (minus a guitar). This aspect coupled with the casting of Steve Coogan and Arthur Fleck literally saying “stop singing” in the third act makes Folie à Deux feel much more mischievously meta than the original.

The sequel is much more insular due to its central location of Arkham and use of a 16mm academy ratio that makes us feel boxed in with Arthur. But when it does open up, it subverts moments from the first film. The triumphant and meme-worthy Joker open stair dance is replaced by a suffocating use of close-ups as Arthur deals with the end of a relationship (at the same spot). And a chase scene in the middle of the city feels like a terrifying inversion of the opening scene from the original as tension mounts with the use of long shots.

Despite matching the physicality of his Oscar-winning performance in the first picture (via the dance choreography), Joaquin Phoenix’s stark stillness in the early parts of the film captivated me the most. But Lady Gaga steals the show in a grounded interpretation of Harley Quinn, whose vocal work is equal parts charming and dangerous. I would have liked more internal life from this new version of Quinn but her character has the same function as Arthur in the original, which is a conduit for the fantasy and delusion.

Overall, I was enthralled by Joker: Folie à Deux. Its themes and satire appealed to me. But also its musical sequences charmed me. I felt the desperation in Arthur’s last song and my heart beat like a drum before the climatic final event. It’s a bold sequel that asks us to step away from the fantasy and embrace the cold light of day of who we idolize and how we consume media.