With early word on Joker suggesting that DC Films has a critic-pleasing film on their hands, it’s not surprising to hear that the Joaquin Phoenix-led film is getting a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival.
As of right now, reception to Joker is largely positive, with 19 of the 22 reviews currently up on Rotten Tomatoes being labeled “Fresh” for an average of 86%. And such positive reception makes it unsurprising, then, that Joker would get applauded at the Venice International Film Festival where it premiered.
You can see a clip of the standing ovation below:
Massive ovation for #Joker at #Venezia76 pic.twitter.com/Poygwd7TI2
— Elsa Keslassy (@ElsaKeslassy) August 31, 2019
The film, which has no connections to DC’s shared universe of movies, serves as a homage to movies like Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, following a jaded, damaged protagonist as he slips down an increasingly criminal path. The movie exists in a much more grounded version of the standard Batman mythos, where there aren’t supervillains, but there are people who dress up like clowns and riot. Joaquin Phoenix’s performance has been especially praised as a unique take on the character that is able to work efficiently without Batman or other superheroes to counter him.
Here is the official synopsis for Joker:
Director Todd Phillips’ Joker centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone fictional story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck, who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, is of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A clown-for-hire by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night…but finds the joke always seems to be on him. Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, Arthur makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this gritty character study.
Directed by Todd Phillips from a script he co-wrote with Scott Silver, Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais, and Shea Whigham.
Joker will be released in theaters on October 4, 2019.
Source: Twitter