Hopefully a film that won’t just become infamous for its lack of being seen – after it previewed one single screening at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival it was withdrawn due to “rights issues” – The People’s Joker is a bold, bonkers debut feature from Vera Drew that reimagines the mythology of a slew of DC properties through a queer, gender deconstructed lens.
Those rights issues do make sense from the surface level perspective of DC and Warner Bros., but Drew’s ambitious film is less about parodying the property and more honouring certain constructs to act as both a touching tale of owning your own queerness, as well as brutally swiping at the modern day landscape of news and comedy; if anything, networks like NBC should be worried about Drew’s acidic tongue.
Starring as a somewhat fictionalised version of herself, Drew narrates her Joker origin story as she recounts how it felt in her cisgendered youth to know she was born in the wrong body (Griffin Kramer appearing as a young, pre-transitioned Vera whose deadname is amusingly bleeped), and how her mother (Lynn Downey) didn’t know how to react to such news and hauled her off to Arkham Asylum as a result; it was here that young Vera was prescribed Smylex, an experimental drug that forces a sense of manic happiness.
It’s in these types of moments alone that Drew’s evident love of all things Batman shines through (hell, the film’s even dedicated to Joel Schumacher, who directed two of the more divisive Batman efforts), with the actor/writer/director lovingly noting their impact on her as a child (most little boys wanted to be Val Kilmer from Batman Forever, whereas she wanted to be Nicole Kidman). A wealth of the characters across the films and comic series are in play here, with Drew incorporating both live action and animation to represent their beings; the chaotic energy of the visual style perfectly complementing the story’s maniacal temperament.
It’s such maniacal energy that brings about the Joker’s eventual re-branding as “Joker the Harlequin”, a new gender identity and persona that Vera embraces as she starts to feel her own trans-ness. A hopeful stand-up comic, we learn that an SNL-type comedy program (“UCB”) has become the only legal form of projected comedy, and Vera, wanting to fight the power – so to speak – teams up with fellow comic Oswald Cobblepot (Nathan Faustyn) to form an underground anti-comedy troupe. Such defiant action brings the attention of Batman (Phil Braun), but also the support of a wealth of familiar villains, including Catwoman and a non-conforming Poison Ivy.
It’s in her new Joker the Harlequin form that she meets Mr. J (Kane Distler), a trans comedian who’s heavily modelled after Jared Leto’s Suicide Squad incarnation of the Joker, whose emotional manipulation pushes the film forward in a manner that comically mirrors the abusive dynamic of Joker and Harley Quinn, but also speaks quite seriously on the subject of sexual abuse and violent narcissism within a relationship; A message movie? Who woulda thunk it?
Whilst it’s certainly understandable that there’s outrage over The People’s Joker and its use of such familiar properties, there’s a sense of irony that for such a bold, forward-thinking film, the DC use is not nearly as bombastic as the film’s reputation may have you believe. Drew’s film is such a specifically catered-to outing that the general DC fans may not even know of its existence. Though (and there’s that irony again), the rights issues hoopla surrounding the film and the news that was generated from it being pulled after one session during its initial festival preview run meant it brought about attention, and the comic film bros – whose heads would probably explode from the queer overload of it all – are now aware of its existence, and, quite wonderfully, they can’t do anything about it.
Ultimately, Drew has made The People’s Joker first for herself, but, as the title proudly states, she’s a beacon of hope for all queer and trans people to let their freak flags fly in the most unashamed of manners. Some of the references and humour may not translate for all, but there’s no reason for the talented filmmaker to not receive her worth for a film that’s wildly imaginative and rightfully provocative.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The People’s Joker is screening as part of the Screen Festival Program at this year’s SXSW Sydney, running between October 15th and 22nd, 2023.
