...

i got a chance to see The People's Joker (with Marrow no less), and it was everything i hoped for and more. spectacular, hilarious, dark, edgy, self-aware, earnest, intertextual, metatextual, experimental, surprising, relatable, beautiful... and oh so queer and trans. i can hardly wait for this film to be available more widely.

i was particularly impressed with how interconnected the movie's symbolic language is--for instance, Smylex is a social control drug associated in the film with gender conversion therapy, weed, dick pills, brainwashing, Jokerfication, joy, liberation, apathy, dissociation... so what is it? it doesn't stand in neatly for any one real-world phenomenon, but it makes me think of realities. being misunderstood as a kid and prescribed some identity or way of life to keep the adults comfortable. addiction and drugs as a coping mechanism in a dystopian world. the danger of losing yourself and being easily manipulated thanks to substances and escapism. power's willingness to wield such things as intentional tools of control. and detachment from expectations and the self sometimes being a gateway to a more true and unfettered experience, even if attained through toxic means. all these vignettes and ideas are tied together meaningfully by the single object of Smylex. and the film is full of things like this. i'm sure i'll be picking apart its commentary and perspective for years to come.

the queer/trans elements of it also just made me cry in the best ways. deeply true expressions of pain, conflict and abuse, told without ambiguity--literally, the main character will chime in non-diegetically to tell the audience "this is not romantic, this is abuse". i'm moved by the amount of care and recognition for queer experience and its vulnerabilities, here. i repeatedly thought, "the world needs this. imagine if my younger self could have seen this." not just because of the story being so resonant and clever, but the ethos of how it was all made--so radical, so bottom-up, play turning into the sacred, community and people prevailing over legal pressures and economics... it's practically mythological. i'm so grateful i got to be here for its big debut.