The Goldfinch, Joker and Judy

The Goldfinch was a far better movie than most of the critics would  have us believe. I was a big fan of the Donna Tartt novel and I thought the cinematic device of jumping back and forth through time worked fine. Oakes Fegley and Ansel Elgort were passable as the young and adult Theo Decker, but I was waiting with baited breath to see who would play Boris. so I was completely thrown by the casting of  Finn Wolfhard and Aneurin Barnard. Not at all like I imagined.

As ever, Roger Deakins did a fabulous job with the beautiful cinematography. John Crowley's direction respected the tone of the book, as did Peter Straughan's screenplay. There were also some good songs: "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" by Them and The National's "Terrible Love (Alternate Version)" stood out. As did the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Concerto Number 5.

Joker is the ultimate anti-hero movie. A disturbing and uncomfortable experience, but at the same time always captivating and being an excellent piece of film making. Of course it's all about Joaquin Pheonix who is hardly ever off the screen. He completely gets the troubled soul of a mentally scarred loser. As a character study, the movie is a success.

However, for me what stands out is the cinematography of Lawrence Sher who, with director Todd Phillips, has brought Gotham City to life with it's gorgeous verticality. Whether looking directly upwards at that Bronx outside staircase or even at Joker himself, it all adds to the uneasiness of the film's feel. Not only are some of the exterior locations superb, but also the interiors. The view of the bridge through the window of the clown's dressing room is unforgettable.

So no CGI, no special effects, just great camera work. No fantasy stuff, no super hero appearance, just a story about how a mental illness developed into a monster. And while we are on monsters, what an unbelievable choice of music as Joker reaches his metamorphosis late on, again at that staircase, dancing down the steps. Out blasts the opening instrumental of Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2", fortunately with no vocal.

During the movie, I started to hope that it would end just where "Batman Begins" starts. And it does.

This time, a character study of a real person. Renee Zellweger captures Judy Garland in an Oscar worthy performance during what turned out to be some of her last concerts, a residency at The Talk of the Town in London. And only six months before she died. At times a quite emotional story as Judy struggles with drink and pills to put on a show. Michael Gambon's Bernard Delfont made me smile as he watches with a grimace. Director Rupert Goold (a theatre director whose plays included The Seagull for Headlong at the Oxford Playhouse and King Charles 111 at Milton Keynes Theatre) manages to give sense to Judy's past by using flashbacks to her teenage years, particularly those  with Louis B. Mayer.

Tom Edge has written an excellent screenplay based on the book by Peter Quilter. Jessie Buckley gets better and better, swapping her Scottish accent in Wild Rose for a clipped English swagger as Judy's London assistant Rosalyn Wilder. However, I did think one piece of casting was unbelievably awful. Surely that could have found someone more appropriate to play Glaswegian Lonnie Donegan. Did he really appear at The Talk of the Town without his group?

There is one terrific short scene with Judy and the doctor that Bernard Delfont wants her to see. I believe he is superbly played by Adrian Lukis, but there is no mention of him on IMDB. A mystery of which I have my own theory. Watch this space. UPDATE (14/01/2020): He is there now!