Joker review: Folie À Deux: You’ll go Gaga in this gripping Joker sequel, writes BRIAN VINER

Joker: Folie À Deux (15, 138 minutes)

Verdict: Bold and brilliant sequel

Classification:

A Different Man (15, 112 minutes)

Verdict: A moving satire

Classification:

Venice, a city long associated with masks and masquerades, was the perfect place to introduce the Joker five years ago; and last month, at the venerable film festival there, it was followed by the sequel, Joker: Folie À Deux.

The director is Todd Phillips again, with Joaquin Phoenix once again in the lead role, this time accompanied by Lady Gaga as what I suppose we should call the love interest, although that would undervalue her wonderful performance.

We’ve known since A Star is Born in 2018 that she can act, but she really is fantastic in a bad girl role. At St Trinian’s they would have loved her.

This film is boldly different in style from the original, not as electrifying, but bold and brilliant all the same.

Arthur is now behind bars, waiting to see if he will be judged sane enough to stand trial for murder and, in the meantime, enjoying his celebrity status with his fellow prisoners and even the guards, one of whom, a Irish sadist played by Brendan Gleeson, gives him cigarettes in exchange for jokes.

Lady Gaga plays Lee, a fellow inmate who, we assume, is on her way to becoming the Joker’s girlfriend, Harley Quinn. The pair hit it off in a music therapy class and soon fall in love with each other, but Lee makes it clear that he loves the dangerously charismatic Joker, the “clown prince of crime,” not the darkly introspective Arthur.

What’s more real: the psycho wearing the mask or the vulnerable guy behind it? Either way, identity confusion is the theme of this film, which continues to be billed as a musical.

Actually, it isn’t, although the music looms large as an expression of Arthur and Lee’s blossoming love for each other. And there are a couple of swooning dance routines that make them look like psychotic versions of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in La La Land (2016).

Also, while watching Vincente Minnelli’s 1953 classic The Band Wagon, Lee, who claims to have been imprisoned for arson, sets fire to his prison wing.

The resulting chaos provides an excellent opportunity for escape, but Phillips and his co-writer Scott Silver cleverly play with our expectations throughout; Every time we anticipate where the narrative will go, it confuses us by going in another direction.

Finally, after Arthur’s notable television appearance with a cocky interviewer played by Steve Coogan, it’s time for the trial, with all of Gotham gripped by the issue of multiple personality disorder. Is the person accused of five murders Arthur or is it Joker? His kind lawyer (Catherine Keener) strives to prove that it comes first; Lee just as urgently wants him to identify as his demonic alter ego.

For me, Joker was almost a masterpiece, and while this sequel doesn’t reach those heady heights, it’s still a gripping film about mental illness; It’s not comparable to all-time greats like Psycho (1960) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), but not far off.

– Joker’s Gotham, of course, is a lightly fictionalized version of New York City. The real is the backdrop for a different manAnother absorbing story, lavishly written and directed by Aaron Schimberg, about an urban loner struggling with life.

In the case of the troubled and self-conscious Edward (Sebastian Stan), an aspiring actor, that’s apparently because he has a disfiguring craniofacial condition. Corporate instructional videos seem to be about as far as you can go in the world of acting.

There are obvious echoes of The Elephant Man (1980) and, furthermore, of the recent release The Substance, in which Demi Moore’s character, a former movie star “disfigured” by some wrinkles, finds a way to transform into her most beautiful self. young. .

Here, a doctor tells Edward that “an alternative path has presented itself.” In other words, medical science has found a way to reverse his condition, turning him into a perfectly attractive middle-aged man.

But Schimberg’s point, expressed with great satirical arrogance, is that Edward, despite his radical change in appearance, is still the same person he always was deep down.

In his old condition he befriended his beautiful and charismatic neighbor, Ingrid (Renate Reinsve), a playwright. Now he can sleep with her and star in a play she has written about their relationship, although he knows little of her true identity.

I was even reminded of Tootsie (1982) and Mrs Doubtfire (1993), as Edward’s new personality fails to alter who he really is. This is illuminated by the arrival of Oswald, an Englishman with the same condition Edward once had, but popular, witty, confident and gloriously played by Adam Pearson (who actually suffers from a disfiguring condition called neurofibromatosis).

Pearson is probably best known for his first film, Jonathan Glazer’s brilliant Under The Skin (2013). Which is appropriate, because this image is also about what’s under the skin.

-A longer review of Joker: Folie À Deux was published a month ago. Both films are already in theaters.

Paul Weller’s film debut? That’s entertainment!

The 68th London Film Festival begins next week with the world premiere of Blitz, director Steve McQueen’s drama set in London as Luftwaffe bombs fall night after night.

Saoirse Ronan, for my money one of the most talented actresses of her generation, plays Rita, an East End mother whose son George (Elliott Heffernan) disappears. It sounds intriguing even without the casting of former The Jam frontman Paul Weller, in his film debut, as Rita’s father.

I’m also looking forward to another world premiere, Joy, the story of the three brilliant British medical pioneers whose work in IVF gave rise to the world’s first ‘test tube’ baby, Louise Brown, in 1978.

It is directed by Ben Taylor, best known for his television work on shows such as Sex Education and Catastrophe, and stars Bill Nighy, James Norton and Thomasin McKenzie.

I’ve heard very good things about Conclave, the adaptation of the Robert Harris novel starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci. A couple of new documentaries also attract attention. One of them is made by actress Sadie Frost, whose directorial debut was a film about Mary Quant. This time she turns to another 1960s fashion icon, with a feature named Twiggy.

And Elton John: Never Too Late promises a “unique and intimate” look at the star’s life and career. It’s been made by his long-time partner, David Furnish, so… we’ll see.

For more details visit bfi.org.uk/lff.