First of all, I think Joker is a really good movie. My original review can be read here. But I have to be honest, it isn’t a film deserving of 11 Oscar nominations. While it is a unique and disturbing take on superhero lore, you can see why it is up for so many awards when you realise that it is basically a comic book movie as done by Martin Scorsese. Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy have been oft quoted as the inspiration for the film and that may have worked in its favour.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are notorious for the lack of nominations it gives genre movies i.e. horror, comedy, action, superhero and the list goes on. Even last year, there was controversy over the fact that there were talks of a ‘popular’ film award. In other words, an award for blockbuster movies that don’t fit into the stuffy and boring idea of what an Oscar nominated film should be. If you are an optimist, Joker being so successful in its nominations sounds like a good step forward.

Unfortunately, the Academy’s support for the Clown Prince of Crime is misguided. This is because it is not breaking any waves or taking a step in a new direction. It is a hit movie that is massively influenced by one of the greatest living directors and has a very showy lead performance. If anything, it feels safe. The Academy’s nominations for the film feels like your father discovering a modern trend and using it in a misguided fashion. It would be more of a radical change if Avengers: Endgame was nominated for as many Oscars.

If I’m honest, it is a massive disservice to the craftsmanship behind Endgame that all it got nominated for is special effects. The movie has a brilliant cast, amazing costumes, precise direction and a sharp script that manages to wrap up the twenty-something movies in the series before it. Yet, the snobbish attitude that Scorsese reinforced when he described Marvel movies as ‘not cinema’ lives on. Joker is only being recognised at awards season because it is as far away from a superhero movie as you can imagine. Also, it has to be said that there were better movies last year.

2019 saw Tarantino on fantastic form and Scorsese making another masterpiece. You have to wonder why the Academy nominated a Scorsese-lite film for so many awards when you have pure product in the shape of The Irishman. Again, it reminds me of an old man trying to be hip and cool. All you have to do is look down the list of areas Joker has been nominated for. The nominations for Best Costume as well as Best Makeup and Hairstyling stand out as particularly odd. Is that for the one standout costume and makeup design that appears in the entire film?

Yet again, something like Avengers: Endgame would have appeared more deserving of these nominations as well as many of the other blockbuster films in the last year. Whatever your opinion, Joker seems to have hit the sweet spot between snobbish Oscar voters and fanatic comic book fans. Hopefully, some of the other movies will get a look in on the night but it is hard to shake the feeling that the nominations for the Academy Awards feel weak this year in general. As I said, Joker is a really good film but its success with the Oscar voters is like a teenager faking their age to get into a nightclub and actually succeeding.

Image Credit: The 86th Annual Academy Awards, Walt Disney Television, Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0), some rights reserved.

Disclaimer Notice: Any thoughts and opinions expressed here are solely my own. Any images (copyrighted or otherwise) have been used according to Creative Commons and if needed, have been referenced to the best of my knowledge.

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