Joker received four nominations for the 2019 Golden Globes. To compare with other comic book movies, that's twice as many nominations as received by Black Panther and Deadpool. More unbelievably, that's four times as many as The Dark Knight, which garnered a single Golden Globe nomination, for Heath Ledger.
Compared to all the other great films released this year, does Todd Phillips' controversial blockbuster deserve its nominations? Let's go through the different categories in which Joker is nominated, from most deserving to least.
BEST ACTOR - DRAMA
This is one nomination even those who hated Joker would probably agree on. Up against Christian Bale in Ford v. Ferrari, Antonio Banderas in Pain and Glory, Adam Driver in Marriage Story and Jonathan Pryce in The Two Popes, Joaquin Phoenix could very well win this award. Practically everything compelling, exciting and emotional within Joker is rooted in Phoenix's willingness to dive so deep into such a pathetic and twisted character. Making Arthur Fleck empathetic without obscuring his villainy, and adding poetic flourishes with various dance sequences, Phoenix's work is responsible for the film as a whole making as strong as an impression as it's had. We fully expect him to dance on to further awards season victories, possibly even at the Oscars.
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
We can't complain about Hildur Guðnadóttir's nomination for Joker's dark and haunting score, though we're a lot less sure it has a chance of winning (Thomas Newman's score for the war drama 1917 is also nominated at the Globes and has been sweeping critics' awards his season). There have been more memorable scores this year, but it's still strong work that fits the movie. Between Joker and Chernobyl, Guðnadóttir has become a film composer to watch.
BEST PICTURE - DRAMA
We were predicting this nomination, but it's not exactly one to get excited about. Is Joker really one of the year's best films overall, or is it just a case of a great performance elevating a movie that's ultimately rather pretentious and shallow, not actually having much more to say about the various social issues it briefly gives lip service to than a "We Live in a Society" meme? Its imitations of Martin Scorsese films feel extra shallow when placed up against the actual Scorsese film it's competing against, The Irishman. Even just as a showcase to watch great actors go crazy, it's less entertaining than The Lighthouse, a film which the Globes completely ignored.
BEST DIRECTOR
Todd Phillips' nomination for Best Director might be the biggest joke of all. His attempts in the press to make the movie seem more "dangerous" than it actually was worked out, because there's no other reason such unexceptional work should warrant a nomination. It's frankly embarrassing comparing his work to the achievements of his fellow nominees: Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Martin Scorsese for The Irishman and Bong Joon-ho for Parasite. We can't judge Sam Mendes' worthiness for 1917 yet but his "war movie in one take" ambitions already sound more promising than Phillips' work in Joker. Why wasn't Taika Waititi's amazing tonal tightrope act in Jojo Rabbit nominated? Critics are loving Greta Gerwig's new take on Little Women, and if it's at least as good as her work on Lady Bird, she'd be a more worthy nominee as well. At least Joker seems unlikely to win this award, but this nomination is still startling.
Directed by Todd Phillips, Joker stars Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Bill Camp, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Douglas Hodge, Marc Maron, Josh Pais and Shea Whigham. It will be available on digital HD on Dec. 17 and Blu-ray and DVD on Jan. 7.