Venice Film Festival Chief Lauds Joker As A Definite Oscar Contender

Guess we're all going to be smiling come October.

In an interview with Deadline, Venice Film Festival Chief Alberto Barbera mentioned that Joker stands a very good chance at getting a few Oscar nods, though his word choice of “Absolutely” does indicate more certainty than possibility at this point. He calls it “a strong, unexpected and original film”, bringing forth “a dark vision of the contemporary world”.

It is not only Barbera who has great things to say about the movie. Currently, Joker has a 89% score from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site labelling it “a chillingly plausible origin story that serves as a brilliant showcase for its star – and a dark evolution for comics-inspired cinema”. Of course not all critics agree with this, most notably diverging is the film review from Roger Ebert’s site, whose critic remarks that ” as social commentary, “Joker” is pernicious garbage”. Ouch indeed.

In an article from Variety after the movie’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival over the weekend, the piece cited that Joker received an 8 minute standing ovation from the crowd, for the director Todd Philips as well as the star of the movie Joaquin Phoenix. Phoenix has mentioned that his version of the Joker is not influenced by any previous iteration, saying that he “wanted the freedom to create something that wasn’t identifiable”. Well, it certainly looks like he succeeded.

Joker will hit the theatres October 4th, 2019.

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