“Death Stranding” creator and video game auteur Hideo Kojima is joining the likes of Quentin Tarantino in defending “Joker: Folie à Deux” amid the sequel’s disastrous theatrical release. The movie bombed with critics and has earned just over $200 million at the worldwide box office after a one month in theaters, a far cry from the $1 billion gross of the 2019 original. Kojima wrote to his 3.9 million X followers that he predicts the film’s reception is likely to change over the next decade or two.
“I watched ‘Joker: Folie à Deux.’ The beginning of the film is an animation sequence, reminiscent of the nostalgic ‘Looney Tunes,’ depicting a story of Joker and Joker’s shadow,” Kojima wrote. “In the trial that follows, the question of his multiple personality is argued from beginning to end. Is the Joker Arthur? Is the Joker another personality (his shadow)? Who exactly is Arthur? This revelation eventually transforms into a meta-perspective. In the previous film, ‘Joker,’ was it really Joker who captivated audiences around the world? Or was it Arthur? This question is constantly raised to Lee and even to the people of Gotham City within the film.”
“We live in an age of mass production of ‘poetic justice’ heroes, a battle between good and evil,” he continued, clearly fascinated by the movie’s moral questions. “Lately, many spin-off films with a focus on the villains have been made. Can villains be superheroes too? Is this question posed on the big screen as a DC movie too avant-garde? Was it the Joker that audiences around the world loved? Was it Arthur? This is where the reviews have diverged. Over the next 10 or 20 years, this film’s reputation will likely change along with the permeation of hero movies to come. It may take some time for it to become a true ‘folie à deux.’ But there is no doubt that everyone in the audience loved Joaquin and Gaga in this film.”
Kojima, who is partnering with A24 on a “Death Stranding” film adaptation and who recently signed with WME for Hollywood representation, often takes to X to share his thoughts on recent releases. His reaction to “Dune: Part Two” earlier this year went viral as he called Denis Villeneuve’s sequel such a monumental piece of cinema that it acts as a “resistance” to streaming platforms.
“Even as a movie buff, I was beginning to think it was time for me to start watching movies on my smartphone or tablet,” Kojima wrote at the time. “However, when I watched ‘Dune: Part Two’ my rigid ways of thinking crumbled like sand! … This film shouts, ‘This is cinema!’ and provides the ‘spice’ that we need to live. This masterpiece of Denis will likely become a ‘resistance’ that will significantly delay the spread of subscription services.”
Whether or not the reception to the “Joker” sequel changes over the next decade or two as Kojima predicts, the film is now earning some more public admirers. Tarantino made headlines for saying Joaquin Phoenix “gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life,” and he echoed Kojima in praising the movie’s meta-narrative.
“The Joker directed the movie,” Tarantino said about director and co-writerTodd Phillips. “The entire concept, even him spending the studio’s money — he’s spending it like the Joker would spend it, all right?” Tarantino said. “And then his big surprise gift — haha! — the jack-in-the-box, when he offers you his hand for a handshake and you get a buzzer with 10,000 volts shooting you — is the comic book geeks. He’s saying fuck you to all of them. He’s saying fuck you to the movie audience. He’s saying fuck you to Hollywood. He’s saying fuck you to anybody who owns any stock at DC and Warner Brothers […] And Todd Phillips is the Joker. Un film de Joker, all right, is what it is. He is the Joker.”
“Joker: Folie à Deux” is still playing in theaters but is also now available to watch from home on PVOD.
