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The People’s Joker, 2022
A child (Griffin Kramer) grows up sensing that they were born in the body. On growing up, they move to Gotham City where they become Joker the Harlequin (Vera Drew). In a society where all comedy is outlawed, Joker starts an anti-comedy club with friend the Penguin (Nathan Faustyn). But all is not smooth sailing, as Joker must contend with abusive boyfriend Mr. J (Kane Distler) and attempting to make amends with her controlling mother (Lynn Downey).
This deeply personal, outlandish parody is absolutely delightful.
When you hear a lot of conversation about a film----but mostly about the circumstances about a film---it’s hard to imagine what it actually is. I’ve been looking forward to checking out this movie ever since the buzz around it when it was shown, and then pulled, at film festivals. It wasn’t anything like what I imagined, and yet I also feel like it surpassed my expectations.
After almost two decades of superhero movies taking on the same dull palette, the same glib tone, and the same CGI-heavy bloated action scenes, there’s something borderline miraculous about someone taking a longstanding superhero universe and crafting it into something that is just about the complete antithesis of what superhero media has looked like for the last 20 years.
This movie might not have the biggest budget, but I actually responded very positively to its aesthetic, which reminds me a lot of the media that would have been popular around the time of Vera Drew’s childhood and teenage years. Anyone remember the Dogzilla book?
. There are also nods to things like Minecraft or early-era 3-D computer animation. For me, it felt like watching a mish-mash of someone’s childhood pop culture, and the way that they have conceived themselves through that media.
There are a few times that the film seemed like it was dipping into explainer mode. An early monologue about how Drew figured out that she was transgender; a later discussion about recognizing an abusive relationship. But while these moments felt a bit too on the nose, I do appreciate that there is a dearth of movies speaking so directly to---and not just about ---queer and trans youth, so I didn’t mind them too much. And for the most part, the movie doesn’t feel like it’s trying to explain to people outside the trans/queer experience, but mostly just living inside of it.
The movie is also nicely nuanced and uninterested in an us vs them mentality when it comes to transgender vs cisgender, queer vs hetero people, or men vs women. The only “us” is people who feel marginalized or on the outside, and the only “them” are those who use power to control others. Mr. J, despite a backstory that includes being transgender and suffering sexual coercion from a trusted authority figure, is one of the main antagonists of the film. The Penguin, who is pretty cis/straight coded, is one of the nicest characters, and is certainly Joker’s best ally in the whole film.
And while the whole film looks at the various stages and challenges of being transgender in a world that can be very hostile, the theme that I appreciate the most was the idea that trying to “fix” people who are different is often more about assuaging the discomfort of the majority than actually helping the person being “healed”. In the film, characters are simply prescribed Smylex, a drug that puts a smile on their faces. In Joker’s case, this is about comforting her mother, and in an early therapy session, Joker is disdainfully asked to consider how being transgender has impacted her mother.
Finally, I was just overall very into the vibe of the movie. A lot of the humor just worked for me. At one point, Penguin rants at Joker that she’s selling out to “kiss Lorne Michaels’ *ss”, and she replies, “I can’t kiss his *ss,” then mumbles “You know we can’t afford to animate the back of him”. Oh, and a character played by Maria Bamford? Yes please. The whole thing is scattershot, but it’s a constructed, intentional scattershot.
Full of heart. No notes!
The People’s Joker, 2022
A child (Griffin Kramer) grows up sensing that they were born in the body. On growing up, they move to Gotham City where they become Joker the Harlequin (Vera Drew). In a society where all comedy is outlawed, Joker starts an anti-comedy club with friend the Penguin (Nathan Faustyn). But all is not smooth sailing, as Joker must contend with abusive boyfriend Mr. J (Kane Distler) and attempting to make amends with her controlling mother (Lynn Downey).
This deeply personal, outlandish parody is absolutely delightful.
When you hear a lot of conversation about a film----but mostly about the circumstances about a film---it’s hard to imagine what it actually is. I’ve been looking forward to checking out this movie ever since the buzz around it when it was shown, and then pulled, at film festivals. It wasn’t anything like what I imagined, and yet I also feel like it surpassed my expectations.
After almost two decades of superhero movies taking on the same dull palette, the same glib tone, and the same CGI-heavy bloated action scenes, there’s something borderline miraculous about someone taking a longstanding superhero universe and crafting it into something that is just about the complete antithesis of what superhero media has looked like for the last 20 years.
This movie might not have the biggest budget, but I actually responded very positively to its aesthetic, which reminds me a lot of the media that would have been popular around the time of Vera Drew’s childhood and teenage years. Anyone remember the Dogzilla book?
. There are also nods to things like Minecraft or early-era 3-D computer animation. For me, it felt like watching a mish-mash of someone’s childhood pop culture, and the way that they have conceived themselves through that media.There are a few times that the film seemed like it was dipping into explainer mode. An early monologue about how Drew figured out that she was transgender; a later discussion about recognizing an abusive relationship. But while these moments felt a bit too on the nose, I do appreciate that there is a dearth of movies speaking so directly to---and not just about ---queer and trans youth, so I didn’t mind them too much. And for the most part, the movie doesn’t feel like it’s trying to explain to people outside the trans/queer experience, but mostly just living inside of it.
The movie is also nicely nuanced and uninterested in an us vs them mentality when it comes to transgender vs cisgender, queer vs hetero people, or men vs women. The only “us” is people who feel marginalized or on the outside, and the only “them” are those who use power to control others. Mr. J, despite a backstory that includes being transgender and suffering sexual coercion from a trusted authority figure, is one of the main antagonists of the film. The Penguin, who is pretty cis/straight coded, is one of the nicest characters, and is certainly Joker’s best ally in the whole film.
And while the whole film looks at the various stages and challenges of being transgender in a world that can be very hostile, the theme that I appreciate the most was the idea that trying to “fix” people who are different is often more about assuaging the discomfort of the majority than actually helping the person being “healed”. In the film, characters are simply prescribed Smylex, a drug that puts a smile on their faces. In Joker’s case, this is about comforting her mother, and in an early therapy session, Joker is disdainfully asked to consider how being transgender has impacted her mother.
Finally, I was just overall very into the vibe of the movie. A lot of the humor just worked for me. At one point, Penguin rants at Joker that she’s selling out to “kiss Lorne Michaels’ *ss”, and she replies, “I can’t kiss his *ss,” then mumbles “You know we can’t afford to animate the back of him”. Oh, and a character played by Maria Bamford? Yes please. The whole thing is scattershot, but it’s a constructed, intentional scattershot.
Full of heart. No notes!