‘Joker’ blows itself up in Venice: Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga star in a musical with nowhere to go

Now the commercial career of the sequel ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’ promises almost the opposite: on the one hand, its participation in this year’s Mostra competition was considered as such long before it was announced, and its inclusion in the festival’s list of honors is extremely negligible; on the other hand, although the only thing expected was a victory at the box office, it would be frankly surprising if it were among the Oscar nominees, at least according to what we see today. “When we shot ‘Joker’, almost no one paid attention to us,” the director recalled. Todd Phillips In Venice. “But we realized that there were a lot more eyes on us when we were making this sequel.” In any case, it is by no means enough to claim that the new film is too much to describe the effect it has had on the audience. expectations was created around.

Mind you, perhaps the most surprising thing about its predecessor was the decision to fantasize about the origin of the main character — who was actually named. Arthur Fleck, It is inspired by Batman cinema, also known as Batman’s most famous enemy. Martin Scorsese and more specifically, ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) and ‘The King of Comedy’ (1982). To create a similar surprise effect, Phillips decided to tell the story of how Fleck came to terms with the legal consequences of his crimes and how he fell in love with her along the way. harley quinnIt made the most sense to turn the sequel into a stage for dance choreography and a living space for characters who communicate by singing.

In other words, ‘Joker: Folie à deux’ is a Manual MusicalThat’s why it’s inexplicable that those responsible tried to convince us otherwise in a press conference today. To that end, he said, “The songs give the characters a way to express themselves.” Lady Gaga – tasked with bringing Quinn to life -, as if that’s not exactly the ‘way’ most musicals ‘work’.

In any case, the change in genre is only one of the differences between the new film and the original: it is a movie full of events that lasts more than 120 minutes. narrative purpose and dramatic energy, Determined to reinvent Fleck, he turns him into a walking catalogue of traumas and a being who is at once pitiful, dangerous, ridiculous, cruel, sensitive, vulnerable and touching. This is, by contrast, a largely inert work, and yet 138 minutes of shootingperhaps because of the unwritten rule now that all Hollywood blockbusters must last longer than necessary.

“We made it clear in the first movie that Arthur is someone who acts according to the music that plays inside him, so it makes sense that music plays such a dominant role in the second movie,” Phillips said. The play in ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ serves to get the audience out of trouble rather than portray psychologies. Covers of classics by artists such as Frank Sinatra, The Carpenters and Jacques BrelThey seem strangely disconnected from the story they belong to, like additions designed to distract us from the shortcomings of a story that goes nowhere because it actually has nowhere to go.

As Philips intended, this is nothing more than a first action followed by a hasty decision that acts as a release rather than a logical conclusion. Let’s remember that ‘Joker’ was accused of advocating violence and justifying the ‘incel’ subculture‘ and ‘Folie à Deux’ seek to make clear that this was never the intention.

When asked about this today, Phillips tried to convince him that the film was in no way intended for that purpose, but to no avail. But besides him Joaquin Phoenix He had no reservations about throwing the balls out. Let’s remind you that just a few weeks ago, it was learned that the actor suddenly and unfairly canceled his participation in the project that was to be his new film. Todd Haynesand that his decision would cause serious economic damage not only to the company that would produce it but also, presumably, to his own reputation. A reporter asked him, “Would you like to tell your version of what happened?” His answer was undeniable: “No, I don’t want to.”

Despite everything that has been said, ‘Joker: Folie à Deux’ is a much more worthy candidate for the Golden Lion than the other two candidates for the award presented today. Directed by the French sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin, ‘Playing with Fire’ uses a premise that can produce passionate debates -What would we do if our son was a neo-Nazi?- to offer a predictable but also misleading, monotonous and insultingly didactic story. And Giulia Louise Steigerwalt’s ‘Diva Futura’ is a crude imitation of the Italian pornography industry from a few decades ago. ‘Boogie Nights’ (1997) but seems more like a hypothetical version ‘Tell me how it is’ Not only does she dare to portray herself topless and the underworld she inhabits as a feminist paradise, she also has the courage to assert herself as an argument against the reactionary Italy represented by Giorgia Meloni.