As Joker: Folie à Deux will work. When Joker premiered in 2019, the film radically redefined what a comic book movie could be with its unorthodox storytelling, talented cast, and beautiful cinematography. However, pushing the boundaries and raising the bar further, Joker: Folie à Deux is set to be a musical, a perplexing choice, which calls into question how ambitious the sequel is, along with whether it will undermine the tone set by the original.
Joker was a bizarre piece of cinema when compared to other DC films. Rather than being a typical superhero film like 1989’s director Martin Scorsese’s movies. Featuring Joaquin Phoenix in the unforgettable starring role, its success warranted a musical sequel entitled Joker: Folie à Deux, set to release in 2024.
How Joker's Bathroom Dancing Scene Proves A Musical Can Work
Music has had a way of creating iconic soundtracks and memorable moments in comic book films like She-Hulk: Attorney at Law twerking still appearing on social media, there are fears about Joker: Folie à Deux’s new musical direction. Although it’s easy to ruin a movie with a misplaced dance scene or inappropriate musical number, Joker proved that it knows how to handle them organically and effectively with one of its most unsettling scenes.
After brutally murdering people on the subway, Joker showed its protagonist, Arthur Fleck, retreating to a public bathroom. Backed by eerie music, Fleck danced alone in a skin-crawling private ballet that conveyed his further descent into madness. Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in Joker channels so much emotion and uneasiness without coming off as campy. Already the crew behind Joker showed they understood how to make a musical moment disturbing and where Phoenix’s talents lie as an actor. Joker: Folie à Deux showed a musical could work without betraying the dark tone or undermining the performances of its cast, portraying it as a surreal scene rather than a comedic moment.
Why Joker 2 Needed To Be A Musical (To Continue The Original's Trend)
The eclectic world of Joker opens itself up to be a musical and, for the sequel to dig deeper, needs to be explored that way. Joker distinguished itself by asking audiences whether they believed in its unreliable narrator and how much of his story was true. Including more musical numbers, dance scenes, and cinematic moments in Joker: Folie à Deux, the film builds upon Fleck’s distorted views of reality.
Considering how much media, like Murray Franklin’s show, play in the Joker’s delusions and how much classic Hollywood he indulges, like Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, it’s natural to see his reality continue to reflect this. Although unclear if the Joker soundtrack was part of Fleck’s imagination and if he’s really dancing to music in the bathroom or playing songs like Jimmy Durante’s “Smile” in his head, regardless, it set the stage for Joker: Folie à Deux as a musical. Fleck also has a cinematic outlook on life, comparing his own to a comedy, perhaps after a few viewings of movies like Singin’ in the Rain, and his meeting Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn, it’ll begin to feel like a musical as well.
