Classic Movies Live – Season 5, Episode 33: Joker: Folie à Deux
October 16, 2024Way back in our first season, we covered the original Todd Phillips DC villain origin story, Joker. In 2024, Lady Gaga’s Lee Quinzel joins Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck in the sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux!
The second Joker movie is anything but more of the first. Where the first was a straightforward riff on Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, the sequel is part musical, part courtroom drama, part fever dream, and if it’s derivative, it pulls from enough sources that it’s hard to call it a riff on anything. But with so many moving parts, does the followup to Phillips’ Oscar-winning Venice-darling work?
In this episode, Pierre and Jeff reflect on the original Joker, and discuss the merits of its sequel. Hot off the heels of Megalopolis, is it possible we’ve got another controversial arthouse hit on our hands?