An aspiring clown grappling with her gender identity combats a fascistic caped crusader.
You hear it all the time: Nothing is new anymore. Hollywood’s gotten boring. Everything is just a remake or a sequel or another superhero blowup action carbon copy. So many people turn to arthouses and indie distributors for anything remotely resembling ‘vision.’ What always frustrates me is that few people are willing to look between the two and search for movies that don’t get that perfect theatrical screening. “The People’s Joker” might be one of those movies, as quite literally, it was yanked from its opening screening by Warner Brothers after a lawsuit claiming copyright infringement. Ever since, it’s been a wild ride to get this movie out in front of people’s eyes. Vera Drew created a Batman parody chock-full of references (to every movie, maybe every villain, and more than a few inside jokes). I can totally see the copyright infringement idea, but here’s where it gets tricky. The Batman paraphernalia coats the actual story, a trans woman’s story of self-discovery. “The People’s Joker” is at its best when it’s dialed into its trans story and cracking Batman jokes, and it occasionally drags whenever it dials up the Batman mythos. Its lo-fi aesthetics, flash animation, some scenes that looked like they were made in Minecraft, and gaudy green screen visuals take a truly committed soul to make something like this, and terminally online folks will laugh sincerely at some of the Adult Swim anti-comedy feelings. All told it’s a visual wonder with a beating heart that only sometimes loses focus to neg on Batman.
In the future, after the mutant wars, comedy is outlawed except for the one late night program: UCB. It is this program that reaches the heart of the protagonist over in Smallville. The protagonist (who bleeps out their dead name) starts to identify not with the comedians or Jokers on stage but with their hype girls, the Harlequins. An enraged mother starts our hero on Smylex, a feel-good inhalant that will remain a preoccupation for the rest of the movie. After our hero tries their luck at a UCB audition and meets a new friend, Penguin, the two decide to start their own comedy club where all manner of villains can ply their trade at what they call ‘anti-comedy.’ This adventure draws the attention of Mistah J, a more Jared Leto “Suicide Squad” Joker, who falls in love with our protagonist. Despite being a terrible boyfriend, Mistah J convinces the protagonist to begin the transition finally and thus is born Joker the Harlequin. This then draws the attention of Batman, who has a pedophilic history with Mistah J, and Joker the Harlequin decides to do something about it.
The movie’s humor hits at random moments, always catching you off guard. Plenty of humor simply revolves around meta jokes that subreddits have been throwing around regarding Batman and his history of violence. Nathan Faustyn shines as the Penguin. His friendship with Joker the Harlequin blossoms, and a bleeding heart comes out of his corner in surprising ways. The fact that he’s always making fish and ice jokes doesn’t disappoint, and despite their corniness, it works in his favor. In a rare moment or two, Vera Drew breaks character to joke about the movie itself. Most of the comedy centers on this sort of Batman meta-humor and its acknowledgment of many long complaints about Gotham City.
The aesthetic of this movie honestly feels like one of a kind. Its cramped quarters shooting style tugs in the back of your head, reminding you that some of us got busy during quarantine while the rest of us ate chips and watched all of the Fast and Furious movies. The art and animation were outsourced to over one hundred artists, who created an assortment of visual references. Batman himself is just a drawing. The Batcave must’ve been rendered in Minecraft. Small sections have their own hand-drawn animation but only in an oblique, slow-paced way. Make no mistake, there are live-action and animation blends. Joker the Harlequin technically fights Batman, but it’s the sort of low-budget aesthetic lean that makes it feel creative and exciting instead of purely cheap.
The movie’s at its best when Joker the Harlequin and the Jared Leto faker-Mistah J hook up. Wrapped around that central dynamic is a perfect translation from Batman’s canonically abusive Joker/Harlequin dynamics into a trans story. The way Mistah J woos Joker the Harlequin and later convinces her to dive into a chemical vat of estrogen rings so true. It helps that Mistah J’s clinical narcissism prevents Joker the Harlequin from outshining her lover, and even though he’s the one who led her to be who she truly is, he’s still a terrible boyfriend. That dynamic of give-and-take struck a note. It made the film feel more authentic and honed in on a dynamic that felt utterly special and unique, told through a Batman lens. For that section alone, this movie feels worth it. Then Batman has to get involved, and Joker the Harlequin gets trained by comedy Rha’s Al Ghul to become the Joker foretold in a prophecy to beat Batman, who’s upset after she steals his spot on UCB and then dies and joins a puppet in the fifth dimension to sing us out one last time.
This movie has a gorgeous idea on its mind. Its strength lies less in the Batman meta-humor (which you can get from plenty of sources) but in its moments where it blends its low-budget animations, bleak humor, and trans-emotional journey to map perfectly onto a Batman story. After that, sometimes, the Batman stuff gets in the way and wraps up a story in such a distinct way it can’t entirely be understood again. I can see why Warner Brothers might think this film is copyright infringement, given that sections of it can feel like deep nerd fandom movie recreations, but Vera Drew would like to argue this is merely a lens for examining the trans story at the heart of it. Drew’s claim is perfectly clear to anyone watching. It just so happens to lose its way occasionally, telling Batman jokes and fighting crime.
In Select Theaters Friday, April 5th
