While some fans would prefer to vote Joker: Folie à Deux out like a bad So You Think You Can Dance routine. However, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Basterds, and Jackie Brown filmmaker Quentin Tarantino thinks Todd Phillips’ divisive Joker musical is an underrated cinematic gem. According to Tarantino, Joaquin Phoenix gives crowds “one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life.” Joker: Folie à Deux positively bombed at the box office, with Warner Bros. announcing a digital release date for the musical after one week of disappointment. However, Tarantino is ready to wear the badge of a Joker 2 apologist as he discusses the sequel on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast.
“I really, really liked it, really. A lot. Like, tremendously, and 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,” Tarantino explained on the podcast.
“And I’m just nihilistic enough to kind of enjoy a movie that doesn’t quite work as a movie,” the Reservoir Dogs director continued. “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.”
In addition to being blown away by Phoenix’s powerful performance, Tarantino says Arthur Fleck and Lady Gaga’s Harley remind him of Mickey and Mallory, the serial-killer couple from Oliver Stone’s 1994 crime thriller Natural Born Killers. Tarantino created the story for Natural Born Killers and sees Folie à Deux as a spiritual successor to Stone’s brutal display of power.
“As much as the first one was indebted to Taxi Driver, this seems pretty f—ing indebted to Natural Born Killers, which I wrote. That’s the Natural Born Killers I would have dreamed of seeing, as the guy who created Mickey and Mallory. I loved what they did with it. I loved the direction he took. I mean, the whole movie was the fever dream of Mickey Knox.”
“On top of all that, I thought it was really funny,” Tarantino said, adding that he saw it in an “almost empty IMAX theater” in Tel Aviv where he could “laugh without bothering everybody. I know I’m laughing at scenes that other people wouldn’t be laughing it.”
While some Joker fans might not abide by Tarantino’s praise for Joker: Folie à Deux, they could agree on the idea of the film being a big f**k you to fans.
“Todd Phillips is the Joker,” Tarantino says. “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? And then his big surprise gift — haha! — the 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 f— you to all of them. He’s saying f— you to the movie audience. He’s saying f— you to Hollywood. He’s saying f— you to anybody who owns any stock at DC and Warner Brothers […] And Todd Phillips is the Joker. Un film de Joker, all right, is what it is. He is the Joker.”
I’ve yet to see Joker: Folie à Deux (and believe me, I’m in no rush), but I admire Tarantino standing his ground while knowing others could rake him over the coals for his opinion. The best thing to do is see the movie and judge for yourself. You are the only person who can decide if you like something, and people say “different strokes for different folks” for a reason. If you’re interested in Joker 2, watch it. Find out if you agree with Tarantino or if the hordes sharpened their pitchforks for reasons you understand.