And then the film was screened in the US and the entire narrative flipped on its head. While there are loads of American critics who loved the film, there are also many others who found the film too dark and very irresponsible. Some even claimed that the film is a love letter to incels that’ll probably inspire mass shooters. From a wholly celebrated film, Joker became a highly polarising film that has inspired discourse unlike any other film in recent memory. And it looks like many of the 2020 Oscars voters are kinda on the fence about the film as well. Recently, THR published an article covering Joker takes from more than 20 members of various branches of The Academy. These comments, I think, paint a good picture of the film’s chances at next year’s Academy Awards. One voter described only as a male Academy member in the producers branch had this to say: A take from a conflicted man in the producers branch: To be honest, none of it is really surprising. Over the past 20 years or so, films that are considered “too dark” or “depressing” or “weird,” are rarely celebrated by The Academy. Films like Zodiac and Se7en are considered some of the greatest crime thrillers of all time, but neither of them received Best Picture nominations. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button received an Oscar nomination, but not The Wrestler (also Golden Lion winner) which came out in the same year. Spotlight won the Oscar on the year where Sicario was also released — the Denis Villeneuve picture, by the way, didn’t even get a nod. How did The Theory of Everything get a nomination in 2015 but not Nightcrawler and Gone Girl? While I hope that Joker receives a much deserved Oscar nomination next year, I’m not holding my breath. Joker is currently screening in Malaysians cinemas.
