John Waters is wading into the “Joker: Folie à Deux” critical controversy — and is already making a splash.
Waters released his annual list of the best films of the year, as published by Vulture, and bestowed the number six slot to Todd Phillips’ polarizing sequel.
“Finally, a love story I can relate to,” Waters wrote. “So insane, so well thought out, so well-directed, so much smoking! It’s ‘Jailhouse Rock’ meets Busby Berkeley with a 9/11 ‘That’s Entertainment!’ ending that will make you shake your head in cinematic astonishment.”
Waters added, “Stupid critics. Gaga so good. Joker so right. Die, dumbbells, die!”
“Joker: Folie à Deux” received quite the support from subversive auteurs like Quentin Tarantino, who said that director Phillips harnessed the Joker mentality while helming the feature.
“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,” Tarantino said about director Phillips. “He is the Joker.”
Meanwhile, Paul Schrader admitted that he left the theater after 25 minutes of “Folie à Deux” because he couldn’t stand lead actors Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga onscreen.
Leave it to Waters to be the tie breaker, it seems.
Waters, who has previously lamented the rise of comic book movies, wrote in Vulture that Hollywood is no longer the same place where he began his career.
“The movie business as I knew it is now over,” Waters said, adding, “Except in New York City, where feel-bad, risk-taking, ratings-defying art flicks still play and I pay to see them in theaters. Thank you, distributors, from the bottom of my damaged little cinematic heart, for getting these films out there to the perverted public, who still demand to be startled and soothed by troublemaking directors from all over the world.”
Turns out “Joker: Folie à Deux” was one of them: “Here they are — my ten best. See them and suffer … joyously,” Waters penned.
Also among his top 10 of 2024 were “Hard Truths,” “Emilia Pérez” (which he deemed to be “The Rocky Cartel Horror Picture Show”), “Babygirl” (Nicole Kidman “deserves our salute”), and Truong Minh Quy’s “Viet and Nam.” Waters’ top three films were “The Brutalist,” “Queer,” and “Love Lies Bleeding,” which he declared the best film of the year.
Here’s John Waters’ full Top 10 list of 2024:
1. “Love Lies Bleeding” (Rose Glass)
2. “Queer” (Luca Guadagnino)
3. “The Brutalist” (Brady Corbet)
4. “Hard Truths” (Mike Leigh)
5. “Messy” (Alexi Wasser)
6. “Joker: Folie à Deux” (Todd Phillips)
7. “Femme” (Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping)
8. “Emilia Pérez” (Jacques Audiard)
9. “Babygirl” (Halina Reijn)
10. “Viet and Nam” (Truong Minh Quy)
