By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *** (film)/ **** (album)

Harlequin tracklist: Good Morning; Get Happy; Oh, When The Saints; World On A String; If My Friends Could See Me Now; That’s Entertainment; Smile; The Joker; Folie à Deux; Gonna Build A Mountain; Close To You; Happy Mistake; That’s Life

Lady Gaga is definitely the best thing about this sequel to the 2019 original Joker film which won Oscars for Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Score.

• Read on for reasons including how this film proves what a musical talent Lady Gaga is

Phoenix reprises his role as Arthur Fleck, a failed stand-up comedian dealing with mental illness following a childhood in which he was abused and leading to nihilism and crime inspiring a countercultural revolution against the wealthy of Gotham City during the early 80s recession.

We join Fleck, his body emaciated and his mind tranquilised by drugs, in the grim confines of Arkham State Hospital where he is goaded by prison guards singing Oh When The Saints! as he awaits trial and meets fellow inmate Harley Quinn played by Lady Gaga in music therapy.

Quinn catches Fleck’s attention and it’s the fantastical music sequences in this movie where 2 clearly damaged characters meet, fall in love and contemplate each other where the film really works.

We’ve seen Lady Gaga live many times and this film proves what a musical talent she is but also how wise she was to do 2 albums with the dearly departed Tony Bennett before his death and it is the easy listening style of classics she performed with him there and on tour that she mines here and on her companion album Harlequin.

One of those perhaps ironically singing Oh When The Saints (Go Marching In) is a corrupt guard played by Brendan Gleeson (film The Banshees Of Inisherin) who has his own motives for wanting to accompany Fleck to music therapy classes in Arkham.

This weekend we see British comedian Steve Coogan in a play penned by Armando Iannucci (Pandemonium, Soho Theatre) based on Stanley Kubrick’s classic Dr Strangelove which runs at the Noel Coward Theatre and here he plays a TV interviewer pushing Fleck/Joker for an easy scoop.

Later Harry Lawtey from TV’s Industry plays a very rigid and composed District Attorney Harvey Dent as Fleck’s multiple murder case goes to trial.

This might not be what you’d be expecting from a Joker sequel but it shows what a versatile actress Lady Gaga can be and companion album Harlequin is an interesting diversion that gives her interpretations of songs sung by others in the sequel a chance to shine.

However it’s the new Lady Gaga album – known only currently as LG7 – due out early next year that these 2 projects have really whet our appetite for.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Joker Folie à Deux
• Have you seen a Lady Gaga film before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
• Enjoyed this preview? Follow monstagigz on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook