FilmsThe JokeLike this

Films like The Joke.

The Joke (1969) reads as Heavy, steady, measured drama / political, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, mid-stakes, measured. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (1975) poster
1. Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven1975

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Reconstruction (1968) poster
2. The Reconstruction1968

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Jana Aranya (1976) poster
3. Jana Aranya1976

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Pratidwandi (1970) poster
4. Pratidwandi1970

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

How to Be Loved (1963) poster
5. How to Be Loved1963

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Last Supper (1976) poster
6. The Last Supper1976

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Adrift on the Nile (1971) poster
7. Adrift on the Nile1971

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Billion Dollar Brain (1967) (1967) poster
8. Billion Dollar Brain1967

Keeps the heightened unreality and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a cold, bleak undertow.

My Sister, My Love (1966) poster
9. My Sister, My Love1966

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Promised Land (1975) (1975) poster
10. The Promised Land1975

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) poster
11. Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion1970

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Mississippi Mermaid (1969) poster
12. Mississippi Mermaid1969

Keeps the heightened unreality and the unmistakable directorial hand; trades toward a patient, unhurried pace.

These are The Joke’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

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