So, several critics I respect have been gushing about "The People's Joker." It's an independent film that's been difficult to see because of legal issues around its use of DC intellectual property, including the Joker and other "Batman" universe characters. Directed, co-written, edited, and starring Vera Drew as "Joker the Harlequin," the movie is a parody of a showbiz biopic that uses the familiar superhero tropes and imagery to explore our protagonist's journey of self-discovery. The project started out as a re-edit of Todd Haynes' "Joker" film, but has transmogrified into something quite different. And frankly, I don't understand what all the fuss is about.
There have been several extremely low-budget films like "Molli and Max in the Future" and "Hundreds of Beavers" that have made good impressions this year, using the visual language of internet memes and viral videos to put their own spin on familiar genre stories. The production of "The People's Joker" is even more rudimentary than these projects, using crowdfunded art and animation, haphazardly shot footage of the actors, and even a few shots of Robert Wuhl appearing via Cameo. The result is barely watchable, a mixed media collage of garish Joker pastiches accompanying the sad tale of Vera, an overmedicated, deeply repressed trans-woman who moves to Gotham City to become a comedian. Alas, the Kafkaesque entertainment industry is predatory and allows no real artistic expression, so Vera takes on the persona of Joker the Harlequin (a fusion of the Joker and Harley Quinn characters), gathers a few like-minded freaks, and embarks on a career in criminal "anti-comedy."
My biggest problem with "The People's Joker" is that Vera Drew isn't much of an actor or a comedian. She made her name as a professional editor and has a long list of editing credits, including work on "Tim and Eric" and "Comedy Bang! Bang!" I suspect this is why actors like Maria Bamford and Scott Aukerman drop in for brief appearances in the movie. Several of the supporting players are professionals, but they can't make up for the fact that Drew is the lead, and she clearly has next to no experience as a performer. So even though some of the writing is clever, and the depiction of the trans experience is heartfelt, it's conveyed so awkwardly that I found most of the movie incredibly difficult to watch. I can respect the artistic impulse behind the film that spurred Drew and friends to create "The People's Joker" as a piece of transgressive art. Sometimes you have to cheer on the efforts of artists who don't let their lack of talent and skill get in the way of their impassioned self-expression. However, that doesn't mean I enjoy sitting through the results.
As a "Batman" fan, I'm also not impressed with the use of "Batman" IP to tell this story. Most of the characters are very loose versions of "Batman" villains, including The Penguin (Nathan Fustyn), Ra's al Ghul (David Liebe Hart), and Vera's eventual paramour Mr. J (Kane Distler), who is based on the Jared Leto Joker from "Suicide Squad." I understand using the persona of the Joker, who has become symbolic of anarchy and the dispossessed over the years. However, the rest of the analogy is a mess, with characters assigned to various roles seemingly at random. The big villain of the piece isn't Batman, a closeted fascist numbskull in this universe, but Lorne Michaels (Bamford), who controls and sets the rules for acceptable comedy in Gotham. Drew spends a lot of the movie throwing barbs at the entertainment establishment, including "Upright Citizens Brigade" and "Saturday Night Live." I found most of this material unpleasantly indulgent, and it takes up way too much time.
I think I would have responded better to "The People's Joker" if it had been a more straightforward trans allegory, and had been less squeamish about actually using all the Batman IP for this purpose. I'm sure that staying on the right side of DC and Warner Bros. was a major consideration - the film opens with an impressively wordy disclaimer - but it would have helped a lot thematically if the Batman characters were able to actually resemble the original IP more closely. Mr. J is the only one who actually looks like who they're parodying, while everyone else is a mishmash of bad wigs and worse makeup. I can appreciate camp, but it's no excuse for this level of ineptitude. I'm sure the aesthetics are mostly deliberate, and I find them off-putting in the extreme. It also didn't help that I watched "I Saw the TV Glow" recently, which does trans narrative via pop culture remix so much better.
As far as I can tell, the only thing setting "The People's Joker" apart from other amateur Batman fan films is that Vera Drew managed to sell this as a genuine, personal transgender narrative. I'm willing to go with that up to a point, but even the fan films these days have production values better than this, and transgender narratives aren't exactly rare birds anymore. "The People's Joker" also managed to hit a lot of my pet peeves - anti-Hollywood screeds, crummy meme art, and Vera Drew fumbling her way through too many lines. Good grief, it was tough getting through this movie.
If this inspires more people to make their own amateur films in the same vein, great. More trans filmmakers and representation are always good to see. However, I have no goddamned idea what the appeal of this movie is to anyone outside of Vera Drew's immediate circle. It didn't work for me on any level, and none of the praise I've seen seems applicable to the movie I saw. I really wish I could have figured out a way to connect to this one, but it's just not happening. I just didn't get the joke.
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