#197: The Man Who Laughs, Pt. 2 - Joker

The Next Picture Show

Filmspotting

Tv & Film, Film History, Film Reviews

4.6 • 858 Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2019

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Todd Phillips’ new JOKER gives a concrete origin story to a character who, in Christoper Nolan’s 2008 film THE DARK KNIGHT, willfully obfuscates what turned him into Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime. In this second half of our look at two grim-and-gritty takes on the character, we examine JOKER, and some of the discourse around it, in an attempt to pinpoint meaning within an audacious and violent film, and consider how it fits into Phillips’ filmography of put-upon males processing rejection; then we dive into how it connects to DARK KNIGHT, not just in its treatment of the Joker, but also its depiction of Gotham, and its considerations of class and morality. Plus, Your Next Picture Show, where we share recent filmgoing experiences in hopes of putting something new on your cinematic radar. Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about THE DARK KNIGHT, JOKER, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email to comments@nextpictureshow.net, or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730. Show Notes Works Cited: • “Todd Phillips Was Destined to Make a Movie Like ‘Joker,’” by Keith Phipps (theringer.com) Your Next Picture Show: • Tasha: Robert Eggers’ THE LIGHTHOUSE • Keith: “The Booj” episode of the TWENTY THOUSAND HERTZ podcast; 1964’s MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA, 1964’s GHIDORAH, THE THREE HEADED MONSTER, and 1965’s INVASION OF THE ASTRO MONSTER • Scott: Noah Baumbach’s MR. JEALOUSY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present.
0:05.1	You believe that someone out of the past can enter and take possession of a living being?
0:11.8	We may be true with the past, but the past is not through with us.
0:19.7	Welcome back to the next picture show, a movie the week podcast devoted to a classic film and the way it shaped our thoughts on a recent release.
0:26.2	I'm Keith Phipps here again with Scott Tobias.
0:28.7	Tosh Robinson.
0:29.6	Genevieve Koski can't be with us this week because she's taking a double feature of Blowout and Zorro the Gay Blade.
0:35.2	On our last episode, we talked about The Dark Night, Christopher Nolan's
0:38.7	outsized crime film that doubles as an operatic clash between good and evil, featuring two
0:43.4	men in strange costumes. This week we're discussing Joker, the origin story of one of those
0:48.2	costumed men. With a look and a tone on loan from the Martin Scorsese who made Taxi Driver
0:52.8	in the King of Comedy,
0:57.2	Todd Phillips Joker observes one troubled man's break with reality.
1:01.0	Arthur Fleck, played by Joaquin Phoenix, leads a pitiable existence.
1:06.0	He's a low-writ clown who can't even hold down a job twirling a sign outside of a going-out-a-business sale.
1:06.8	He can't even hold the sign.
1:08.3	He lives with his alien mother. He pines for the single mother across the hall,
1:12.2	and he dreams of telling jokes in a talk show hosted by Murray Franklin,
1:15.8	played by Robert De Niro.
1:17.3	But the squalor of Gotham City chips away at those dreams,
1:20.3	and his end at his sanity.
1:22.1	And Arthur finds himself turning to murder as an escape
	...

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