The Peoples Joker, like every cult film, has its share of detractors, who call it a clumsy autobiography. Those two words aptly describe Vera Drew’s feature length ‘fictional’ debut, but I’m also kind of into its approach. A boring wannabe academic may even chalk up the rough CG as reflective of the Joker (Ms. Drew). That’s part of the appeal and the other part is that the characters, during the film’s best moments, feel like the most human characters in recent memory. Anyway, let’s talk plot, as Joker the Harlequin escapes her mother (Lynn Downey) and moves to Gotham City. There, Joker the Harlequin tries to strike it big in comedy.

Joker the Harlequin meets fellow comedian, The Penguin (Nathan Faustyn), struggling like her. Penguin workshops her jokes, saying something here about comedy coming from truth, and therefore, pain, which, like old adages, is true. Together, they build an anti-comedy club. Some of the people who dislike the film are wondering why it’s not funny, and I like the inherently meta quality of the anti-comedy here. Anyway, in their club, she meets Mr J. (Kane Distler), who’s a trans male comedian. Her antics catch UCB’s eye, which leads her to discovering that there’s more to her than the Joker. This is just one of the few left turns that The Peoples Joker takes, where it’s less about comedy and more about truth.

It’s eerie how the Joker’s story in The Peoples Joker reflect mine and many people within the 2SLGBT+ community. Even Mr J.s’ story about Batman grooming him is scarily familiar, especially with hum learning the wrong lessons. Even while using copyrighted material, Ms. Drew shows her eye towards movable portraiture of clowns just like her. Sad clowns who don’t know how to process their pasts properly, using their stories to harm those around them. Deciding to make Mr. J the villain is an interesting choice because they’re pretty much the same. All it takes to wow viewers is to have an ending, and depending on who you ask, it either has it or doesn’t.

There’s a version of The Peoples Joker that’s solid after a certain point, petering off after that big  scene with Ra’s Al Ghul. The rest of the film isn’t as harmful as some of the haters and more that it says less. It gives us metaphors about clownfish, leading Joker the Harlequin to make speeches about real heroes and villains. But even after it loses the steam it needs, it still builds enough goodwill during its opening scenes. I probably wrote this in other reviews, but just because one hears something several times doesn’t make it false. In comparing herself to the Joker, Ms. Drew shows that cinema is more like a hall of mirrors. Her story is the Joker the Harlequin’s story which is, again, the story of a lot of queer people.

The Peoples Joker, Vera Drew’s film that [REDACTED] didn’t want you to see, is finally winning awards and is soon streaming on MUBI.