Quentin Tarantino was "tremendously" impressed by 'Joker: Folie a Deux'.
The 'Reservoir Dogs' moviemaker has admitted he wasn't sure what to expect when he went to see the comic book film - which features Joaquin Phoenix opposite pop star Lady Gaga - but he found he was "caught up" in the story and the musical numbers.
Speaking on 'The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast', Tarantino said of the film: "I really, really liked it, really. A lot. Like, tremendously, and I went to see it expecting to be impressed by the filmmaking. But I thought it was going to be an arms-length, intellectual exercise that ultimately I wouldn’t think worked like a movie, but that I would appreciate it for what it is.
"And I’m just nihilistic enough to kind of enjoy a movie that doesn’t quite work as a movie or that’s like a big, giant mess to some degree. And I didn’t find it an intellectual exercise.
"I really got caught up into it. I really liked the musical sequences. I got really caught up. I thought the more banal the songs were, the better they were. I find myself listening to the lyrics of ‘For Once in My Life’ in a way I never have before."
He heaped praise on Phoenix, who reprised his role as the Joker after previously winning the Best Actor Oscar for his role in the first film, saying: "[He gave] one of the best performances I’ve ever seen in my life in this movie."
While Tarantino also loved the direction by Todd Phillips, even comparing him to the film's main character.
He said: "The Joker directed the movie. The entire concept, even him spending the studio’s money - he’s spending it like the Joker would spend it, all right?
"And then his big surprise gift — haha! — the jack-in-the-box, when he offers you his hand for a handshake and you get a buzzer with 10,000 volts shooting you - is the comic book geeks.
"He’s saying f*** you to all of them. He’s saying f*** you to the movie audience. He’s saying f*** you to Hollywood. He’s saying f*** you to anybody who owns any stock at DC and Warner Brothers […] And Todd Phillips is the Joker. Un film de Joker, all right, is what it is. He is the Joker."
