Weekend Watch: Joker: Folie à Deux, A Different Man

Will Joaquin Phoenix amuse you? And how is Sebastian Stan changing things up?

Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, where I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, Joaquin Phoenix is down to clown again, while Sebastian Stan shines in a new dark comedy thriller. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite

I’ll freely admit that I wasn’t exactly on the Joker train when the Oscar-winning film arrived in 2018. While I admire a lot of what director Todd Phillips and star Joaquin Phoenix were looking to achieve and their commitment to tone and tragedy in a fresh take on the infamous Batman villain, it didn’t quite land for me. Side stepping all the usual trappings (beyond possibly the laugh and the make-up) was certainly a path to something original, it’s just that the result didn’t live up to all I hoped, sometimes choosing style over substance.

And it’s disappointing to learn that the sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, heads even further in that latter direction. It picks up Arthur Fleck’s story –– Phoenix’s troubled wannabe comedian who went on a murderous rampage in the first film –– with him still incarcerated in Arkham Asylum, the subject of torment by the prison officers. His lawyer, Maryanne Stewart (played by Catherine Keener, who is underserved by the role) is looking to build an insanity defence for his actions.

A brighter spark in his life is his burgeoning romance with Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga), which in turns inspires large fantasy sections where the pair sing classic tunes to each other, or perform in a 1970s–style variety TV show that is designed to move their narrative along in twisted fashion.

It all aims to open up a debate on who Joker really is –– could he be an actual separate identity who subsumes Arthur? Or, as suggested by the chaos and protests around the courthouse, is society to blame. Have the clowns been sent in all over?

The problem is that for all the flash, dazzle and moody cinematography (shout out to Lawrence Sher, who uses light and shadow effectively and wreathes the main character in smog from the cigarettes he’s constantly smoking), the new film comes across as shallow. Yes, Lady Gaga can sing, and she has certainly proved she can act, but the script gives her little else to do besides fall for Arthur.

Certain other elements irked me –– why would Gotham decide to broadcast the murder trial of a criminal who has had a radicalising effect on other citizens? I understand the mixture of fantasy and reality, but that feels like a ridiculous move. Ditto allowing Arthur to wear his Joker make-up in court at one point (no matter how much the judge tries to explain it).

Overall, the whole takeaway for me is this is sound and fury signifying nothing. The joke is on us.

Joker: Folie à Deux is in US and UK cinemas now.

Image Credit: A24

Sebastian Stan is having a good year. He’s receiving acclaim for more two impressive performances this year (the other, in The Apprentice, is still to come).

In A Different Man, Stan plays Edward, an aspiring actor in New York whose shy public persona is compounded by his neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder marked by large facial tumours. He makes a friendly connection with his new neighbour, a fledgling playwright named Ingrid (Renate Reinsve) and his life changes completely when Edward is offered a miraculous medical serum that clears his tumours completely (if painfully) and leaves him looking, well, like Sebastian Stan.

Edward re-invents himself as Guy (having told those around him that Edward has died), a smooth if shallow real estate agent. He reconnects with Ingrid (who does not recognise him) when he stumbles on the play she’s putting up called Edward, based on their friendship. He auditions to play the lead role with a mask that replicates his prior condition, and starts to date Ingrid, but all aspects of his life are thrown into chaos when the gregarious, funny Oswald (Adam Pearson) shows up, intrigued by someone creating a play about the condition he himself lives with. Soon, Edward/Guy’s new life is falling apart as he becomes obsessed with the new interloper, and he pushed further and further into bizarre behaviour.

Writer/director Aaron Schimberg is driven by his own cleft palate to feature people and stories about identity, self-image and self-worth, and A Different Man represents the most assured example of that to date.

Stan, who starts the film working beneath complicated prosthetics, gives a nuanced and heartfelt performance, switching to nervy and then self-destructive even as he is able to benefit what some would label a more “normal” life as the Guy persona post-treatment.

He’s handily matched by Pearson, who lights up the screen when he enters the film, reuniting with Schimberg after co-starring in the filmmaker’s previous movie, Chained For Life. He’s a revelation and, alongside his co-star, seems destined to enter the awards conversation. And not forgetting Reinsve, who is handed a complicated, interesting role and runs with it.

Around them, Schimberg builds a fascinating, sensitive and interesting film that has emotional and intellectual issues on its mind but doesn’t hammer his points home, letting them emerge naturally through character and incident.

Could you see your preconceptions challenged by A Different Man? Possibly? But you’ll certainly enjoy the experience.

A Different Man is in UK and US cinemas now.