Best F(r)iends Volume I (2018)

Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero are known best for The Room, the 2003 film which became known as one of the worst movies of all time. This time Greg Sestero was in the driving seat, producing and playing the main character in the film. 

The story follows John, played by Sestero, a mute, homeless person whose only belonging is a torn photograph of his mother. He ends up befriending Harvey, an eccentric mortician played by Wiseau. They work together in the mortuary where Harvey reveals he has been stockpiling golden teeth. As John recovers his voice and his health, he realises that there is money to be made in selling the gold teeth so he lets Harvey in on the scheme. John starts going out with a girl and the trust between the two friends starts to unravel. The plot is not totally unsurprising, but unlike with The Room everything ties together and there are no pointless sub-plots. There are some similarities between this and The Room. You have two men whose friendship is being torn apart by a woman. This time around there is an intentionally more creepy atmosphere and you feel you cannot trust either friend. 

Greg Sestero is decent enough in the role of John. It is difficult to tell whether the lack of emotion is an intentional nod to John's mysterious nature or whether Greg Sestero is not the best actor. Either way he is decent enough.

Tommy Wiseau is effective in the role of Harvey. At least this time around, there is no pretending that Tommy Wiseau's character is ordinary. He seems kind to John but his collecting of the golden teeth and unusual money deals keep him as an unusual character. It is a much more natural role for him. Greg Sestero is effective as John. It feels as though they only did one take per scene and there may have been improvisation. Nonetheless this is interesting.

John's girlfriend is probably the best played character in the whole thing. Her reactions to Harvey are amusing.

Greg Sestero wisely leaves the direction to someone else. The sets are all exterior. There are no studio sets masquerading as exteriors.

The soundtrack is strange, ethereal and electronic. Perfect.

Overall, Volume 1 of Best Friends is a fairly decent movie. Nothing exceptional but certainly not bad.

Score: 8/10

Joker (2019)

Joker is a Taxi Driver inspired story of a nobody, Arthur Fleck, getting more deranged until he snaps and becomes the Joker. He struggles with his job, deals with family issues against Thomas Wayne.

The idea that Arthur Fleck and Thomas Wayne may be related is an interesting one but I prefer that they didn't. It would have made Thomas Wayne too much of a boogeyman. For him to hate the poor AND be a bad father to be too OTT.

The film is well-directed by Todd Phillips. The late 70s/early 80s look of the film recalls films of Martin Scorsese. Lots of narrow corridors, cracked paint and seedy, grubby looking locations. There is a moment borrowed from King of Comedy where Arthur Fleck gets beloved. The camera never moves beyond Fleck's viewpoint. The music is excellent, melanchony, sinister.

Joachim Phoenix is excellent as Fleck and the way that he gradually becoming more assertive as the Joker. His final costume is nicely reminiscent of Caesar Romero's suit. Definitely one of the best interpretations of the character.

This is a pretty decent supervillain origin story movie. A film that occasionally thinks it's more intelligent than it actually is. Some might call it violent but the origin of a supervillain is hardly going to be sunshine and roses.

The film borrows from The Killing Joke and The Dark Knight Returns. The Joker's appearance on the talk show mirrors that of his appearance on the David Endochrine show in the Dark KNight Returns.

The film concludes with Joker escaping from Arkham and Bruce Wayne having seen his parents die and be on the way to becoming Batman. Joachim Phoenix is so good that I wish we could see his version of the Joker tackle Robert Pattinson's Batman. It's possible that this film will get a sequel but I'm hoping that it does not. The film deserves to exist as its own little oddity.

7.5/10