Quentin Tarantino has shared his thoughts on Todd Phillips‘ Joker: Folie à Deux – see what he had to say below.
Despite the Joaquin Phoenix– and Lady Gaga-led film performing rather disappointingly at the box office, the Kill Bill director praised the film, saying he “really, really liked it” on the latest episode of The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast.
Tarantino – who has struck up a friendship with Phillips over the years – expanded on his thoughts: “I went to see it expecting to be impressed by the filmmaking. But I thought it was going to be an arms-length, intellectual exercise that ultimately I wouldn’t think worked like a movie, but that I would appreciate it for what it is.
And I’m just nihilistic enough to kind of enjoy a movie that doesn’t quite work as a movie. That’s like a big, giant mess to some degree. And I didn’t find it an intellectual exercise. I really got caught up into it. I really liked the musical sequences. I got really caught up. I thought the more banal the songs were, the better they were.”
His praise didn’t stop there, however. Tarantino went on to praise Phillips, sharing that the thought the film worked on a different level because it was directed by the Joker himself: “Todd Phillips is the Joker. The Joker directed the movie. The entire concept, even him spending the studio’s money — he’s spending it like the Joker would spend it, all right?
Tarantino continued: “And then his big surprise gift — aha! — the jack in the box, when he offers you his hand for a handshake and you get a buzzer with 10,000 volts shooting you — is the comic book geeks. He’s saying fuck you to all of them. He’s saying fuck you to the movie audience. He’s saying fuck you to Hollywood. He’s saying fuck you to anybody who owns any stock at DC and Warner Bros. And Todd Phillips is the Joker. Un film de Joker, all right, is what it is. He is the Joker.”
Joker: Folie à Deux, meanwhile, has endured a tough time at the box office, taking approximately $40million (£30.5million) domestically on its opening weekend, well short of Warner Bros.’ original projections. Now, just weeks after its cinematic release, the film is looking at a digital home release on November 4, accelerated due to its financial difficulties.
Folie À Deux also became the first Hollywood comic book movie adaptation to earn a ‘D’ score from CinemaScore – even maligned films such as The Marvels or The Flash managed to secure a ‘B’ grade. It is also sitting on a lowly 33 per cent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 32 per cent audience score on the aggregator site.
In a four-star review of Folie à Deux, NME wrote: “As with the original movie, the film looks gorgeous throughout, with cinematographer Lawrence Sher making strong use of colour and conjuring up some beautiful images – highlights include an overhead shot of some umbrellas (referencing Jacques Demy’s 1964 musical The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg) and a stunningly lit frame of Arthur lighting a cigarette in his prison cell that resembles a lovingly illustrated comic book panel.
“In short, Phillips and Silver have delivered the last thing anyone expected: a socially responsible Joker movie that finds an intriguing way to explore the consequences (both on and offscreen) of the first film. Joker fans shouldn’t cry too hard though – Warner Bros. have cleverly found a way to leave the door open a little for the franchise to continue, should the need arise.”
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