Joker: Folie à Deux ★★☆☆☆
Directed by Todd Phillips. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey, Leigh Gill. 15 cert, gen release, 138 min
Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) and Harley Quinn (Gaga) romance as the former faces trial for murder. Phillips has followed up Joker, a film that made $1 billion, with a work of unexpected eccentricity. He could easily have satisfied the studio accountants by pushing his antihero deeper into comic-book territory. Instead, he has put together a musical that ends up disavowing unlovely beliefs held by the first film’s less stable fans. Brave man. Unfortunately, it is a drab affair that never gets properly started. The song choices are obvious, the stagings unimaginative. Gaga and Phoenix try hard, but it’s an uphill stomp. Full review DC
A Different Man ★★★★☆
Directed by Aaron Schimberg. Starring Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Adam Pearson. 15A cert, gen release, 112 min
Stan won best lead performance at Berlin for his turn as Edward, a man with neurofibromatosis, a highly disfiguring condition, who is magically cured, only to discover that life can be cruel for even the visually appealing. Schimberg’s slate-grey comedy draws terrific performances from its three leads: Stan becomes increasingly angst-ridden; Reinsve is funny as his calculating neighbour; Pearson, who has neurofibromatosis, is best of all as a charming lovey in elaborate cravat. It loses its way towards the end, but A Different Man remains a singular entertainment, Beau Is Afraid crossed with Flowers for Algernon. Full review DC
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The Teacher ★★★★☆
Directed by Farah Nabulsi. Starring Saleh Bakri, Imogen Poots, Muhammad Abed Elrahman, Stanley Townsend, Mahmoud Bakri. 12A cert, limited release, 119 min
Fine drama about a schoolteacher who seeks to help a student whose brother has been shot by the Israeli forces. Nabulsi’s script takes cues from the hostage negotiations for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was held by Palestinian militants for five years. The British-Palestinian writer-director is more interested in mirrored lives and common trauma than in the fraught politics of the West Bank. The parallel father-and-son storylines may feel a bit too tidy, but the film is powered along by terrific performances and palpable fury. Full review TB
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person/Vampire Humaniste Cherche Suicidaire Consentant ★★★★☆
Directed by Ariane Louis-Seize. Starring Sara Montpetit, Félix-Antoine Bénard, Steve Laplante, Sophie Cadieux, Noémie O’Farrell, Marie Brassard, Patrick Hivon, Marc Beaupré. Mubi, 90 min
Entertaining horror comedy about a young vampire (Montpetit) who is diagnosed with an inhibiting compassion for human beings. She’s packed off to live with her no-nonsense cousin (O’Farrell), who attempts to teach her how to pick up guys at bars (for blood-draining purposes) to no avail. Ariane Louis-Seize’s debut won best director in the Giornate degli Autori sidebar of Venice in 2022. The deadpan tone recalls the drollery of Only Lovers Left Alive and What We Do in the Shadows. Montpetit channels the teen angst of a young Winona Ryder. TB
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