Did Scorsese actually score five nominations?
Tuesday, January 14, 2020 at 2:44PM 
Officially, Martin Scorsese received two nominations for this year's Oscars. He's a contender for Best Picture, as a producer, and the Best Director statuette for his long-gestating epic The Irishman. However, there's a fellow nominee whose movie is noticeably indebted to the old master's filmography. So much so, that some would go as far as to say that these other project's nominations are due to nostalgia for the Scorsese of yore as much as they are to this new movie's actual quality.
We're talking about Todd Phillips and his triple nomination for the Joker…
The comedy director turned prestige filmmaker was nominated for Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay, matching Bong Joon-ho, Sam Mendes and Quentin Tarantino at this year's triple nominee club. That said, there's something rather horrible about the whole thing and this isn't a reference to Joker's debatable mediocrity. As it happens, DC Comics shining jewel managed to get more nominations than the combined Oscar loot of both of the Scorsese classics it so shamelessly plunders for cinematic iconography.
Back in 1976, Taxi Driver got only four nods and Scorsese himself wasn't even among the honored. The movie was nominated for Best Picture, Actor (Robert De Niro), Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster) and Original Score (Bernard Herrmann, posthumously). When it comes to The King of Comedy, which Joker leans extra heavily on, the situation is even worse. Whatever its current status as a masterful classic may be, 1983's poisonous portrait of an aspiring comedian wasn't very well-received at the time (BAFTA was the sole group interested) and it didn't even manage one measly Oscar nomination.
Considering such injustices, it's less painful to think about the Joker's dominance as a retroactive celebration of Scorsese's mistreated masterpieces of the past. One thing's for sure, if these races whittle down to Martin Scorsese versus Scorsese-wannabe, let's hope the Academy doesn't indulge in one of their occasional bouts of insanity. If you're going to award Scorsese-esque cinema, at least single out the real deal and not the copycat. On the eventuality that we're living in the worst timeline, at least Todd Phillips should have the decency of honoring The Irishman's director in his speech(es). After all, we live in a society.
Reader Comments (36)
adri -- I know, this was just my way of letting out some steam and whine a bit about the Joker's 11 nominations. Sorry if it's not to your liking, but I'm still grateful for the comment. Thank you.
No, he did not! Scorsese scored two nominations, and Todd Phillips scored the other three. Joker's nomination haul, I can assure you, goes way beyond the callbacks to Scorsese's cinema (which are numerous and obvious, of course, but I think reducing Joker's achievements like that just because you don't like the film, is insulting to both the film and everyone who responded to it). Joker is a film that has sparked so many conversations among my groups of friends (and even my mom and my sister who usually don't respond to these kinds of movies) about the way it uses the comic book lore to portray societal apathy and negligence and how a villain can emerge from a system that allows for people to fall through the cracks.
Complaining about... oh sorry I said it yet
Spot-on article.
When I saw Joker, I enjoyed it immensely because I am a sucker for an origin story and even more for depictions of late '70s/early '80s NYC in all its beautiful ugliness (see HBO's The Deuce for a more masterful example). But the whole time I was also thinking of Scorsese, Taxi Driver and King of Comedy. For that reason, the further Joker recedes into memory, the less enamored of it I become.
We live in a world where Todd Philips has 3 Oscar nods while Lulu Wang and Marielle Heller have ZERO or Pedro Almodovar only has 2
Joker was a SO OBVIOUS remix of Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, that it was distracting all through the film. It is no secret, Marty was involved with the film when it was a project, then dropped to do The Irishman and then went to Phillips... who basically reimagined the origin story of "The Killing Joke" mixiing up with both Scorsese classics.
I have to say I find this whole line of reasoning (i.e. Joker "loots" other films and therefore a blight on cinema) a rather tired one. Filmmakers take inspiration from other films and sometimes wear their influences proudly and prominently on their sleeves, Scorsese included (ask him about how much he's taken from Powell & Pressburger he'll happily admit to it.) So the issue isn't that of an impostor vs a true artist since they both "loot" classic films, it's just that Phillips did it to okay results while Scorsese does it much, much better. True to the old saying "Talent borrows, genius steals"
JJsDinner -- That's a good point. This article is, admittedly, on the sillier side of things and I don't mean to imply that Phillips, or any other artist, is "forbidden" from taking inspiration in others' work. In this case, I think the inspiration goes a step too far and is done rather poorly, but the practice itself isn't intrinsically wrong. Thank you for the feedback.
Claudio--ITA. The inspiration goes way too far. Joker is basically a remake/rehash of both Scorsese films. And a very bad one at that. Sigh.
The only problem with Joker is its sense of selfself-importance, despite its gross depiction of mental illness.
It's a hack job. Gross in the way the last half hour of Django Unchained is, but less ridiculous and worse.
As egregious as Joker’s nominations haul is, I can certainly see it going the way of The Turning Point and The Color Purple and go 0 for 11.
One can certainly dream, right?
@ajnrules:
A little dream--
Best Picture: Parasite
Best Director: Bong
Best Actor: Banderas
Best Supporting Actor: Hanks
Best Original Screenplay: Parasite
Best Adapted Screenplay: Little Women
Best Cinematography: The Lighthouse
Best Costume Design: Little Women
Best Production Design: Parasite
Best Editing: Ford v Ferrari
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Judy
Best Score: Little Women
Best Sound Mixing: Ad Astra
Best Sound Editing: Ford v Ferrari
I quite enjoyed when American Hustle went 0 for 10.
Thoughts on Joker having seen it: WOW does it feel like watching a cobbled together screenplay loaf, and I'm not JUST talking about the Scorsese homages. I'm also talking about how it honestly feels like Phillips might have wanted to make TWO of these Batman films cum Scorsese homages at some point and the studio told him no very deep into his writing process. The other one? Pretty obviously Goodfellas/Casino/The Wolf of Wall Street, but starring The Penguin. The undercooked classism theme and that go nowhere "Thomas Wayne is your real dad" subplot? Yeah, those honestly feel like leftovers from an abandoned script. And Penguin fits more than any other Bat villain.
The over rated "Joker" should have really been called " Taxi Driving Clown wants to be the King of Comedy"
Cláudio: Taxi Driver wasn't toooo mistreated. It won the Palme d'Or!
But yes, Joker does seem quite close to those two films - especially The King of Comedy.
Sandra Bernhard really deserves a BSActress nomination for The King of Comedy. I would easily replace her with Glenn Close/The Big Chill. Say what you will about Scorsese's portrayal of women on the screen, but he certainly can lead them to nominations-had this one came true).
I agree with your assertion regarding the BDirector nomination for Phillips. Tim Burton wasn't nominated for 1989's Batman and that film was just as fascinating. If you think someone else should've gotten his slot, can you identity his replacement? Wondering if you're on the Gerwig bandwagon or who you would want.
I haven't seen Joker but...did everyone have the same issue with Blue Jasmine completely aping Streetcar when Blanchett was cleaning up a few years back..?
But "Blue Jasmine" is inspired but "Street Car Named Desire" it has similar themes but it's very different. "Joker" not only rips off entire scenes but even the look of the movie is clearly copying the look of the 70's classics. I was not impressed and actually walked out
TOM -- My personal Best Director ballot is very different from the Academy's. I'd nominate Bong, of course, but also other directors that never really stood a chance (Mati Diop, Céline Sciamma) and others whose films aren't even on the eligibility list (Gan Bi, Claire Denis). From within the realm of possibility, I'd love to see Almodóvar replace Phillips. However, if you're just considering films nominated for Best Picture, then Gerwig would be my choice.
The way that most people here link up Joker with earlier Scorsese films is similar to how I linked up Portrait of a Lady on Fire and the vastly superior Blue is the Warmest Color.
My only problem with Joker was that it wa a tad too long and I wish Frances Conroy had more screen time since she's always soooo brilliant but here she barely had anything to chew on....
I liked Joker but I don't think it was that great. It's going to get overrated in the years to come. Plus, having that one song by that pedophile makes that scene very cringe-worthy.
Agree on Frances Conroy!
My main complaint with Joker was the end.. his "followers" seemed to have glommed onto him rather quickly within the universe of the film with only passing references to economic angst beforehand. It was like Fight Club got tacked onto the end of an otherwise reasonably compelling portrait of mental illness.
Stjeans: I don't know about "always brilliant", but she's certainly better here than in her last DC movie. Her performance as Ophelia Powers is basically a crash course of How Not to Do: The Wise Mentor.
Regarding the way JOKER reworks TAXI DRIVER and THE KING OF COMEDY, I feel like the shout out to De Palma's BLOW OUT at the end of JOKER is Phillips' way of anticipating the controversy and responding: "you criticized BLOW OUT for not being original (a number of critics damned it for being little more than a rip off of BLOWUP and THE CONVERSATION in 1981), but now you love it. Originality is overrated."
What is this? Looks like a filler article. Makes no sense.
@Mafer-This article is Jasmine Masters in All Stars 4
Fun fact - though uncredited as an extra, Laura Dern appeared in the final scene of Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974). Her ma, Diane Ladd, received a BSActress nomination for that film.
PP -- Having one's work compared to Jasmine Masters is quite the compliment in my book. I hope I was as funny as she is, though. Anyway, thanks for the feedback.
Nathaniel- that first comment was not from me. I really don’t see why these imposters can’t just find their own name to use. Is it only posters with women’s names that they want to drive away and discredit?
Please apologize to Cláudio for me. Cláudio is so even tempered and fair, he doesn’t deserve slighting off the cuff remarks like that.
I'm going to love how hysterical this site will be If Joker wins, the movie was underestimated here about its success with the academy, so we see the results.
adri -- There's no need to apologize. Thank you for your lovely words, though. They put a very wide smile on my face and I feel quite flattered. As always, thanks for the feedback too.
FWIW: I hated JOKER when I watched it but then I noticed that it stayed with me, led to a lot of interesting conversations/disputes/reassessments with friends, and has left me open to rethinking it. Best of the year? No way. Overly derivative Scorcese homage? Up for discussion. But I have to say THE IRISHMAN, which I also really disliked, has not improved in my opinion of it since I watched it, doesn't have any iconic scenes that stayed crisp in my mind, and unlike Joker hasn't led to any interesting conversations at all. Like I said, for what it's worth...
SanFran Cinema: Honestly, though I didn't hate The Irishman and did kind of dislike Joker, I'm DEEPLY skeptical of memorability as a particularly useful metric of quality. Yes, sure, memorably good is better than unmemorably good, but, well: The Room is a memorable movie. Birdemic is a memorable movie.
Volvagia: I'm not necessarily saying memorability equates with quality; I'm talking I guess more personally about the lasting impact left by a film, which is for me a metric of how I come to settle on an opinion over time.
I notice that movies that fade from my memory (no matter how well made they are) tend to drop in my opinion of them. Movies I keep thinking about (good/bad/unsure) kind of move up higher on my list.
We might have different taste - I love Room and Birdman!