Movie Review House of Gucci

House of Gucci

Directed by Ridley Scott

Written by Becky Johnston, Roberto Bentivegna

Starring Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino

Release Date November 24th, 2021

House of Gucci is a true crime story about the death of Gucci scion, Maurizio Gucci, played by Adam Driver. As a true crime story it’s not bad, as a serious drama about real people in a real life tragedy, House of Gucci is rather disastrous. Unable to distinguish whether he is making a real life crime drama or a campy satire of wealth and privilege, director Ridley Scott has made a strange and off-putting movie that is consistently at odds with itself, it’s intentions, and it’s actors who swing wildly from parody to serious intent. 

House of Gucci picks up the story of Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) as she is working for her family trucking company. The immediate sense is that Reggiani has ambitions that exceed her family’s relatively modest fortune. At a party she may or may not have been invited to, Patrizia meets Maurizio Gucci, mistaking him for a bartender. In her defense, the future head of the House of Gucci was behind a bar and wearing a traditional tuxedo at what is purported to be a costume party.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Joker Folie a Deux

Joker Folie a Deux 

Directed by Todd Phillips

Written by Todd Phillips 

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Catherine Keener 

Release Date October 4th, 1980

Published October 4th, 1980 

I was not a fan of 2019’s Joker. I felt the film was nihilistic and wallowed in the misery of the main character while trying to provoke audiences in the same way edgy teens provoke their elders on social media. The film proceeds with a presumed cool that never emerges in the actual film, as if Todd Phillips were assuming we were all in agreement with his vision of this D.C Comics super-villain as an aggrieved incel out for revenge against a world that rejected him: i.e Elliott Rogers mythologized as a legendary troll. The film was like a bad subreddit come to life. 

Now, however, after getting a look at Todd Phillips complete vision of the character of Arthur Fleck in Joker Folie a Deux, I have to admit, I was wrong about Joker. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think Joker is good on its own, it’s plagued by Phillips' desperate desire for us to feel as disillusioned and disconnected from reality as Arthur is. Phillips’ mix of Arthur’s reality and his fantasy is muddled in a fashion that is more confounding than it is revealing of Arthur’s character. But, now, with Joker Folie a Deux, I’m convinced that Todd Phillips has pulled off an elaborate prank that I find genuinely funny, even as I am very much among those who fell for it.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here.