Joker: Folie à Deuxhasn’t made a great impression on fans of the first film, prompting an examination of movies more similar to 2019’sJokerto watch as a palette cleanser. Openly antagonistic towards fans of the previous film,Joker: Folie à Deuxfailed to reach an audience, flopping even harder than infamous comic book movie bombs likeMorbiusand Madame Web. With the sequel so widely disappointing for those who enjoyedJoker,it’s a better time than ever to examine some great films that are more similar to the first film thanJoker: Folie à Deuxis.
The themes ofJokerinclude mental health, loneliness, abuse, and societal disenfranchisement, all of which are better represented elsewhere than in thecommercial disaster that isJoker: Folie à Deux.Some of these films are obvious influences on the original, reflecting themselves through Todd Phillips' work both stylistically and thematically. Others are simple great chasers to the ideas presented inJoker, building upon them without the burden of DC Comics representation.
If there’s one thingJokercould’ve done differently to get its point across, it would be to make Arthur Fleck more of a force to be reckoned with, giving him a far more visceral fall from grace.Falling Downaccomplishes just that, following the downward spiral of a seemingly normal protagonist who quickly exposes who he really is.
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Joker is a controversial movie that is doing huge box office. Joaquin Phoenix is stellar as the DC character and these are his most memorable quotes.
The film centers on William Foster, a defense engineer attempting to make it across Los Angeles in time for his daughter’s birthday party at his ex-wife’s house.Foster is subjected to a mixture of minor inconveniences and dangerous situations that quickly unshackle his latent inner violence, prompting dramatically chaotic responses from what seems to be, on the surface, a rule-following citizen.
LikeJoker,Falling Downis quite a bleak film, centered on the relatability of its protagonist’s frustrations with the world around him.If Arthur Fleck was a great deal more dangerous and less theatrical, he’d look something like William Foster.
As a Batman-adjacent property,Jokermakes an argument for Joaquin Phoenix putting on the best performance of the Clown Prince of Crime ever.But at the end of the day, no one can top Heath Ledger’s legendary character inThe Dark Knight, still considered today to be thebest Batman movie ever made.The second and most critically-acclaimed of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, this film sees Christian Bale’s Batman take on his own terrifying version of the Joker while continuing to fight corruption in Gotham.
The Dark Knightis worth watching afterJokersimply to bask in the only Joker performance capable of outshining Joaquin Phoenix’s.
In many ways,The Dark Knightmakes the opposite point ofJoker,never giving a concrete answer to the Joker’s origins.In truth, the character might be better served that way, more compelling as a chaotic force of nature than a real character with an arc of his own.The Dark Knightis worth watching afterJokersimply to bask in the only Joker performance capable of outshining Joaquin Phoenix’s.
It can’t be said that Todd Phillips didn’t wear his influences on his sleeve withJoker,as the film takes incredibly clear cues from two of prestige cinema darling Martin Scorsese’s most important films.Taxi Driveris one of the best films (not to mention one of the first) to do a character arc similar to Arthur Fleck’s - An overlooked and downtrodden member of society who violently snaps. Travis Bickle serves as Arthur’s template, a Vietnam veteran and taxi driver who seeks an outlet for his latent rage.
In truth,Taxi Driveris essentially the better version ofJoker,presenting a more disturbing character study of a subject who is far more terrifying than Arthur Fleck.Unlike Phillips, Scorsese doesn’t overly labor on keeping Travis sympathetic, which makes him a more complicated and textured personality who is ultimately praised for his violence. The original modelJokermimics,Taxi Driveris a must-see for fans of the loose comic book villain origin story.
The second obvious inspiration forJokerto come out ofMartin Scorsese’s filmographyis easilyThe King of Comedy,another abrasive character-driven tale.Unlike much of Scorsese’s other work,The King of Comedywas a critical and commercial failure, only being recognized for its brilliance years later. The movie follows Robert De Niro’s Rupert Pupkin, an aspiring stand-up comedian who longs to become a peer of his long-time idol, Jerry Langford, a famous late-night TV show host.
If Arthur Fleck’s latent rage and troubles as an outcast are best represented by Travis Bickle, his sense of stage presence and longing to be adored by the public is clearly evocative of Rupert Pupkin. Just like Arthur, Rupert is obsessed with the manufactured love of the audience and the razzle-dazzle of show business surrounding it, becoming deeply disturbed and increasingly fanatical when his hero doesn’t make his dreams come true.The film also ends on a similar bleak note, condemning celebrity worship in American media culture.
Drama-thrillers about unsavory subjects likeJokerare always intriguing, but the great lengths Todd Phillips goes to ensure a proper amount of sympathy for his Joker can sometimes get in the way.EnterNightcrawler,a film whose protagonist has no morals whatsoever, existing solely to further his own agenda at the cost of everyone around him.
The movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou, a down-on-his-luck petty thief who makes a career change as a “Stringer”, a photojournalist who chases gruesome crime scenes like shootings and car crashes for footage.
Nightcrawlerhas all the sleek wetness and griminess ofJoker’s visual design, not to mention the uncanny perspective of a genuine psychopath.The difference in Arthur Fleck’s breaking point and Lou’s relentless pursuit of his own goals is night and day, however, serving as two sides of the same disturbing psychosis. The lengths Lou goes to in securing his new career dives even deeper into the sort of profane shedding of morals played at byJoker.
It’s safe to say that the same fanbase that enjoyedJokerfor its dissection of trauma, anxiety, and alienation would feel right at home in a screening ofFight Club.The film follows an unnamed protagonist, disillusioned by his life as a wage slave office drone, whose world is turned upside-down when he meets Tyler Durden, a radical revolutionary who starts a no-holds-barred underground fighting ring simply called Fight Club. Skirting around similar themes,Fight Clubis infamous for its following that shares much in common with that ofJoker,self-identifying with a violent character.
WhereFight Clubtruly shines is in its commitment to Edgar Norton’s unreliable narration, much like that of Arthur Fleck’s inJoker,which both end up having critical consequences on the story.The rejection of traditional structuresJokerexplored is practically the thesis statement ofFight Club,which thrives in an examination of counter-culture.The film works so well as a supplement to the character of the Joker thatFight Clubis oftentheorized to be a Joker origin storyof its own.
One aspect ofJokerthat often doesn’t get enough attention is Arthur Fleck’s fantasies centering on Zazie Beetz’s Sophie, not an idol or a celebrity, but a normal person he has a simple pleasant interaction with that he wishes to stretch out into a relationship.A similar premise serves as the foundation ofOne Hour Photo,which further dissects this sort of dissociative obsession.The movie stars Robin Williams as Sy, a lonely photo developer who harbors a secret obsession with one of his repeat customers, a nuclear family who may not be as idyllic as they seem.
Robin Williams is shockingly great as such a disturbed character, sharing the fantasist tendencies of Arthur Fleck, creating his ideal world as a coping mechanism.
Sy’s loneliness is even more desolate than Arthur Fleck’s, making his puppy-dog loyalty to the Yorkin family all the more heartbreaking.His trauma is also only vaguely alluded to, which keeps the narrative from beating the viewer over the head with the point it’s trying to make while still getting across that Sy had suffered previous to the events of the film. Robin Williams is shockingly great as such a disturbed character, sharing the fantasist tendencies of Arthur Fleck, creating his ideal world as a coping mechanism.
Few films align with the originalJokergenre-wise and syllistically as closely asAmerican Psycho.Straying further into horror territory than its thematic ancestor,American Psychoposits Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, a successful business executive whose life is completely surface-level and obsessed with appearances, harboring a dark desire for violence on an astonishing level. The film follows Batman’s murders as he struggles to make sense of reality and his own inner demons.
American Psychooffers a similar critique of American culture through the other end of it, examining the hollow and vapid lives of supposedly successful individuals like Patrick Bateman.The film also employs some similar tricks as to the unreliability of Bateman’s perspective, as the relentless killer grasps at reality through his own tenuous sanity.FromAmerican Psycho’s incredible soundtrackto its gut-wrenching depictions of violence, the film stands the test of time as the premiere examination ofJoker’s own themes.
One downside to Joaquin Phoenix’s casting as Arthur Fleck is his age, which misses an opportunity to disenfranchise him from the world around him via inexperience on top of everything else.A Clockwork Orangetells a similar story toJoker,only essentially in reverse, describing how a ruthless system can beat down a showy murderer and psychopath to haphazardly forge a productive citizen. The film centers on Alex, a violent youth who is captured by the dystopian government of the film’s world and forced into aversion therapy to mold him into a model member of society.
Alex’s reversal of Arthur Fleck’s arc (which ultimately ends in vain) presents a fascinating topic of discussion about how far course correction can morally go in “fixing” the inherently uncooperative.If a Joker can be pressure-cooked into existence by the callous, uncaring nature of an individualistic world, so too can an Alex be unethically reformed by the unrelenting pressure of a homogeneous social structure.In this way,A Clockwork Orangeis a brilliant chaser toJokerthat simply moves in the opposite direction.
It’s been firmly established that stories featuring unreliable narrators are the best analgous movies to surround aJokerviewing. But afterJoker: Folie à Deux’sfailed promise to explore the same themes through a more romantic angle, one might be left grasping for a similar story that fulfills the same niche. Look no further thanHe Loves Me…He Loves Me Not,also known by its original French language title,À la Folie… Pas du Tout. The film follows the escapades of a mentally unstable fine arts student who develops a dangerous romantic obsession with a married cardiologist.
Rather than simply implying unreliable narration,He Loves Me…He Loves Me Notshows the full effects of it, telling the same events twice over from two perspectives.He Loves Me…He Loves Me Notis comparable to fellow French-made filmAmélie,only with a much more disturbing psychological thriller bent that puts it on the same dangerous level asJoker.WithJoker: Folie à Deux’s promise of erotomania leaving many fans wanting,À la Folie… Pas du Toutmight be the experience to try next.
