A major film taking place in a state hospital is a reminder that Westside once had various hospitals of its own.
Waiting for redevelopment just yards from the front door of the 12-screen Cineworld Broad Street is the Old Orleans pub/ former Zara’s club. This was originally built as a house more than 200 years ago before being sequentially repurposed as four different kinds of hospital.
Then next to the Five Ways island is a former children’s hospital, now part of the Broadway Plaza complex, where you will find the 12-screen Odeon Luxe cinema with movies like …
Joker: Folie à Deux (15, 138 mins) Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix returns with another brilliant performance in a second film about the life and times of Arthur Fleck… or should that be Joker?
The failed comedian is a bag of bones, locked up at Arkham State Hospital in 1983. Assuming he can survive the no-nonsense head guard Jackie Sullivan (Brendan Gleeson), which of his two personalities will be the one really on trial?
After proving her own silver screen worth in A Star Is Born (2018), how will Lady Gaga fare as the Fleck-obsessed Lee Quinzel (aka the future Harley Quinn)? And which timeless songs will we hear now that Fleck seems to have found a love of music?
The verdict: *** The top-notch performances, fabulous cinematography and all-round production qualities make this worth an upgrade to iSense at Odeon Luxe Broadway Plaza or IMAX at Cineworld Broad Street.
The title will help people to learn French – the phrase ‘folie à deux’ refers to a shared condition. But the plot needed more of a Terminator 2-style twist as to why we’re here.
Joker 2 cannot match its first movie for intensity, and the ending is far too close to one of society’s modern ills for comfort. Also, for British audiences at least, Steve Coogan’s inquisitorial performance as TV personality Paddy Meyers will make viewers think of ‘Alan Partridge abroad’ more than his performance in Philomena (2013) ever did.
Joaquin Phoenix might literally be going Gaga here, but Folie à Deux doesn’t rival the battle of wits between Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).
Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Green Mile (1999) remain superior locked-up movies, while last year’s Anatomy of a Fall (2023) can still claim the ‘best novel courtroom drama of the decade’ award.
By snaffling bits from all of the above, consciously or otherwise, returning director Todd Phillips (Joker, 2019) has neglected to find his own true path, including casting Bill Smitrovich as the oddly Martin Scorsese-lookalike Judge, Herman Rothwax.
Although the film is not a musical, it’s over-stuffed with (annoyingly old) songs and there’s certainly enough dancing to period music in it to remind you of La La Land (2016), too.
Or Ga Ga Land as we perhaps should think of it here, because the apparent $200 million budget could have funded ten other movies.
A Different Man (15, 112 mins)
A man with a severe facial disfigurement called neurofibromatosis is offered a medication trial which could potentially produce wondrous results.
But could looking ‘normal’ help Edward (Sebastian Stan) to be more satisfied with life or would he be better off as he is? Especially when neighbour Ingrid (Renate Reinsve) writes a play based on his life.
This could possibly give acting work to Oswald, another disfigured man who is compellingly played by British actor Adam Pearson, who says of his real-life condition that it is ‘the least interesting thing about me’.
The verdict: ****
Writer-director Aaron Schimberg has fashioned a rare beast: an original, compelling drama which offers a genuine insight into the human psyche.
The film explores the true nature of self-confidence and whether it’s worth more than good looks alone.
If you enjoyed the likes of The Elephant Man (1980), Being John Malkovich (1999) and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), you will love this. And you will certainly leave Cineworld Broad Street feeling better about your own place in the world.
ENDS
