Displaying items by tag: Joaquin Phoenix

EDDINGTON

US, 2025, 148 minutes, Colour.

Joaquin Phoenix, Deirdre O'Connell, Emma Stone, Micheal Ward, Pedro Pascal, Cameron  Mann, Matt Gomez Hidaka, Luke Grimes, Amelie Hoeferle, Clifton Collins Jr, William Belleau, Austin Butler.

Directed by Ari Aster.

Writer-director, Ari Aster (Heredity, Midsummer, Beau is Afraid) is not afraid of making demands on his audiences, a lot of thinking, a lot of discussion. He urges us to remember where we were in May 2020, the early covid months and lockdown, masks, vaccinations, controversies, conspiracy theories.  He immerses us in Eddington, New Mexico, May 2020, and invites the audience to make comparisons.

But, this is the US, compliance and protest, the story of the sheriff, some American righteousness with devious intentions, campaigning to be mayor. While there is his storyline, the atmosphere widens with Black Lives Matter protests, some screaming left wingers, some disruptive right-wingers and increasing chaos and Antifa interventions. (It is amazing to know that President Biden was elected five months later, but then January 6th seven months later.  Actually, with the second Trump presidency, it all looks strangely more familiar than we might have imagined.)

Aster stressed that he saw the pandemic as an inflection point that merely accelerated an inevitable series of events. Our brains were already broken by technology and media polarization, 2020 just provided a lethal dose of social isolation that permanently destroyed the societal norms we had been living with for the past century.  Christian Zilko IndieWire

We see dramatised anger, paranoia, distortions, insanity, violent calculations and eruptions, conspiracies. A Rorshach test – beserk.

For over 30 years Joaquin Phoenix has been giving complex performances and this is amongst his best, playing the sheriff. Pedro Pascal, frequently present on our screens at this time plays his rival, the mayor. There are some interesting casting is, Emma Stone as the sheriff’s disturbed wife, Austin Butler as a right-wing evangelical agitator, British Michael Ward as the deputy sheriff.

There is always movement during the film but, as it moves towards its violent climax, it becomes, literally, all guns blazing – and an emotional unexpectedly calm but ominous ending.

1. The date, may 2020, Covid, locked down, conspiracy theories, the Trump presidency? Seen in retrospect and memory?
2. Eddington, New Mexico, the town itself, the streets and neighbourhoods, homes, mansions, offices, the hillside, the industrial complex? The musical score?
3. The challenge to American audiences, international audiences observing, the 2020s, Covid, the Biden years, the second Trump presidency? Extreme right and conspiracies, militant action? Left-wing demonstrations? Political atmosphere?
4. Joe Cross, an Everyman American, sheriff, his attitudes and behaviour, his views, relationship with his wife and tensions, with his mother-in-law, the sequences at home? With his deputies and relying on them, the racial mix? His clashes with the Mayor, the confrontations in the street, ideologies, business interests and development? The campaign for mayor? His decision, his posters, his billboards, those of the Mayor? His attitude towards masks, vaccines, spaces in lines, his behaviour in the supermarket? His wife unstable, the tensions and meals at home, issue of children, his mother-in-law and conspiracy theories?
5. Industrial background, the financial interests, the buildings, the plants, work, development?
6. Joe and his campaign, meeting people, confrontations with Ted, his two deputies and his reliance on them, their characters and behaviour, race issues?
7. Ted, Mayor, his place in the town, contribution, his family, travelling with his son? Indications of the previous contact with Louise and its consequences for Joe? The campaign? His son and his relationship with him, the son’s friendship with Bryan, Brian and his background, political stances, demonstrations, Sara, the demonstrations, her political stances, Bryan wanting favour with her, a relationship?
8. Vernon, his visit and meal with the family, his religious stances, the religious right? His interventions? His campaigns and rallies? On television? Ultimately Louise leaving home, joining him, seen on the television, pregnant?
9. The situation of Black Lives Matter, Minneapolis and the demonstrations, the death of George Floyd? The occasion for demonstrations, protests, the involvement of citizens in the town, Joe and his dealing with the demonstrations?
10. The switch in tone, Joe confronting tent, the slap, the humiliation, Joe and his killing the vagrant and putting his body in the water, confronting Ted, killing him and his son? Going to the house, setting up the robbery scenario, and his writing on the wall (and that later being the revelation of his guilt)?
11. The further switch in tone, the plane load of protesters and their arrival? The intervention of Butterfly humane is, the people and nation, his authority, the shooting on the land, his investigations, examining the house, confronting Joe?
12. Beginning of the mayhem, the armed pursuers, the protesters, Brian and Sarah and their interventions, Joe, covering himself, the clashes at home, getting the guns from the store, the transition to an all guns blazing scenario? Joe and his being wounded? And is being unmasked by Butterfly who sees the campaign poster in the office and makes the connection with the house?
13. Joe, his involvement, the guns, his being stabbed, saved by Brian?
14. A year later, Joe and his injuries, quadriplegic, cared for? His mother-in-law and her presence? Status, authority?
15. Brian, symbolising ambitions and complacency? The television program with Vernon and his right-wing religion, Louise present? And Michael, surviving the fires and explosions, deputy sheriff?
16. An American response to the film, depending on stances, political issues, conspiracy theories?

JOKER: FOLIE a DEUX

US, 2024, 138 minutes, Colour.

Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawty, Leigh Gill, Ken Leung, Jacob Lofland, Bill Smitrovich.

Directed by Todd Phillips.

Unexpected – to say the least. Disconcerting… Intriguing…

In 2019, the reworking of the Joker story, many memories of Batman films, was hugely successful, a blend of action and psychological probing of the character of Arthur Fleck, Joker. And, Joaquin Phoenix one the Oscar for Best Actor.

Five years later. Great expectations. A sequel with the intriguing title, Folie a Deux, meaning a shared madness, a psychological description, raising the question of whether the madness of two is the shared madness of Joker and Arthur Fleck or, with the casting of Lady Gaga as Harleen Qninzel, the emerging Harley Quinn, the madness is of the relationship between Joker/Arthur and Harley Quinn.

But, the immediate response to the film on release was highly hostile. Words like “disappointing”, “disaster”, “boring…” resounded through social media, and critics not so enthusiastic either.

This review will be for the affirmative, for Joker Folie a Deux being an intriguing experience of unexpected filmmaking.

Its plot is the aftermath of the original film startlingly recaptured in an opening 3 minute Loony Tunes cartoon. The film is something of an epilogue in terms of the more modest scale of the action. We have seen Joker/Arthur Fleck killing people. Now he is in prison. In fact, quite an amount of the action takes place in the prison, unsympathetic and brutal guards (led by very Irish Brendan Gleeson), some of the inmates supportive, a young quizzical inmate watching Arthur intently and definitely making a final statement about his perspective on Arthur.

Otherwise, the action takes place in the courtroom, his lawyer, Catherine Keener, hoping that Arthur will prove to the court that he is mentally ill. By contrast, lawyer Harvey Dent (Harry Lawty from Industry) more than a touch of the smug, wants to convict Arthur and for Arthur to convicted himself. Fairly straightforward scenario.

But, the other star of the show is Lady Gaga, a presence who creates a limelight around her. And, of course, she sings.

Some promotion discussion has arisen about whether the film should be called a musical or not. From this reviewer’s point of view, it is a musical. There is a huge range of songs listed in the final credits, many of the hits of musical theatre that we are familiar with, think If My Friends could see Me Now, What the World Needs now…, And, finally, poignantly and to the point, Jacques Brell’s If I Go Away…

Already in prison, Arthur Fleck bursts into song, Joaquin Phoenix’s voice distinctive, and, throughout the film, dancing, with Lady Gaga, eventually even a tap dance. And, as in musical theatre, many of the dancers are dream sequences, songs and routines in the fantasies of both Arthur and Harley Quinn. The lyrics, many of which we know so well, are inserted to highlight the mentality of the characters, what they are experiencing.

Which raises the key question of this film: is Arthur Fleck mentally ill? Is he schizophrenic? Is Joker part of his personality or, as it is literally, a mask, a projection? This is discussed in the court case with a number of experts being cross-examined. And it emerges in the court case when Arthur decides to sack his lawyer and do his own defence. Does he defend himself? How does Arthur see the Joker? And who committed the crimes, the mad Joker or the Arthur who grew up in poverty, unloved, a vicious mother…?

It would seem that the very strong finale, the close-up of Arthur himself, of his eyes, does provide an answer.

This is the kind of film which we have seen in the past, reviled on release, reconsidered, eventually becoming something of a cult film as it is understood more and more. With its blend of realism, fantasy, song and dancing, it is something of an arthouse/ comic book creation.

1. Sequel, expectations from the original?
2. Audience response, low, MD rating, the bloggers, audiences wanting their money back…? Hostility?
3. Reimagining of Arthur Fleck and Joker, the title, the folly and madness, of two, Arthur and Joker, in himself? The madness of Arthur/Joker and his relationship with Harley Quinn?
4. The immediate tone, the animation, Loony Tunes in the tradition, the cartoon about Joker, recapping the issues of the original film, the murders, the confrontation on television?
5. The film is a musical, Arthur and his ambitions, Joaquin Phoenix and his singing and dancing? The songs, in his head, Arthur singing? Dancing? His imagination, the lyrics and the relationship to the themes of the narrative? The popular songs on audience familiarity? Lady Gaga, reputation, singer, the songs in her imagination, with Arthur, song and pants?
6. A prison film, the conventions, the harsh prison, the exteriors, interiors, the cells, the television room, the yard? Grim? A court film, the trial, the courtroom, those attending, the judge on the bench?
7. The issue of Arthur as Joker, real, make up in mask, after identifying with Joker? His background as a child, abusive mother, orphanage, growing up alone, sensitive, reaction and the killings, ambition for television, the killing of the compere? Age, expectation, hopes? In prison, awaiting trial?
8. The guards, conventional, the Irish atmosphere, the stories, wanting a joke from Joker, the brutality, yet happy to have the celebrity?
9. Arthur’s lawyer, the discussions, her aims, to prove that Arthur was killed, her performance in court, being sacked?
10. Harvey dent, smug, young, style, behaviour in court, the cross examinations, attacking Arthur?
11. The judge, handling the situation, his decisions, Arthur imagining bashing the judge and Harvey dent?
12. Harley Quinn, her story, her actual name, her version of her story, compared with the reality, her madness within herself, her parents, her actual name, the committee herself, seeing Arthur, the infatuation, wanting to be with him, relate to him, the discussions, the screening of The Bandwagon, That’s Entertainment? Setting the fire? The escape, together, back to jail? The bond, real and imaginary? Her presence in court, intense looking at Arthur? Outside the court?
13. The fans, outside, in the court room, the make up, so many as Joker, the reactions, identifying with him? Support?
14. The witnesses, serious, doctors, psychologists, the cross-examination, some of their interviews with Arthur, the credibility?
15. Arthur, firing his lawyer, defending himself, his manner in the court, the stories, his challenge?
16. The confrontation, who the Joker really is, the Joker in action? Or Arthur in action, accepting responsibility, the jury of their findings, the hostile reaction to the findings?
17. The bomb, the damage, Arthur, the escape, the fans, in the street, those helping, supporting, the effect on Arthur and his being overwhelmed?
18. In jail, the young prisoner and always supporting Arthur? The hostile prisoner, his expectations, the confrontation, killing Arthur? Carving the green on his face?
19. Audience shock, the death of Arthur, the destruction of Joker? The brutal song, If you go away, Arthur dying, the close-up on his eye?
20. The impact of the film and expectations from the audience? The possibility of audiences understanding this arthouse kind of film, the possibility of being a cult film?