„Todd Phillips ist der Joker!“ – Quentin Tarantino lobt „Joker: Folie à Deux“ und dessen Regisseur – Film plus Kritik

Nach dem Kino-Flop erscheint „Joker: Folie a Deux“ in den USA bereits dieser Tage als VOD-Release für’s Heimkino. Während große Teile des Publikums und der Kritik den Film verrissen, schlossen wir uns in unserer Einschätzung dieser Meinung nicht an: Gute 75 von 100 Punkten gab es in unserem Rating für die Fortsetzung des Kassenschlagers „Joker“.

Auch Kult-Regisseur Quentin Tarantino kann der allgemeinen Geringschätzung des Films nichts abgewinnen: Er liebte „Joker: Folie a Deux“ wie er in einem Podcast mit Bret Easton Ellis ausführte:

„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 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.“

Besonders hat es Tarantino die Performance von Joaquin Phoenix als Joker angetan: Er nannte sie gar „one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life“

Außerdem verglich er den Film mit dem von ihm geschriebenen „Natural Born Killers“ und sah in der Beziehung zwischen Arthur Fleck und Lee Quinzel viele Parallelen zu den beiden dortigen Hauptfiguren.

Auch für Regisseur Todd Phillips und seine Herangehensweise hatte Tarantino viel Lob übrig: „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? 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. (…) He is the Joker.”

Inzwischen steht Tarantino in der Riege prominenter Regisseure, die „Joker: Folie a Deux“ lieben, nicht mehr alleine da: Auch Mark Romanek („One Hour Photo“) ließ auf Instagram wissen, dass er den Film großartig gefunden habe: „Sorry, but I thought it was FU**ING GREAT! It was dark, original, transgressive, experimental, disturbing, blackly funny and visually stunning. Basically, I had a great time and was never bored. Jaoquin was great. Gaga was great. It was a piece of big-budget auteurist radical cinema. Not algorithm-based content (ie. shit). Maybe a brilliant and insane reinvention of the traditional musical love story was too icky for the DC faithful. Todd Phillips should be lauded for his audacity and skill. I feel pretty certain that this film will be reconsidered and reassessed at some point soon or in the near future. And I happen to know that many other of the very top filmmakers I know feel the same exact way. Just one man’s opinion.“