Joker
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro and Zazie Beetz
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Rated: R
The clowns are out in Gotham City. Not Pennywise, thankfully. He’s in another movie terrorizing a different town. Citizens in clown masks are taking to the streets to protest against Thomas Wayne and the elite rich of the city. Amid the chaos is Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), a street clown who has a laugh he cannot control due to a brain injury. He hopes to make it as a stand-up comedian but bombs whenever given a chance to perform live. As Arthur is taunted and bullied mercilessly, he begins a descent into madness leading to his persona known as the Joker. This origin story is no laughing matter.
I’ll be honest with you readers. I was very skeptical of this movie. All of the hype around it seemed over-the-top. After enduring the torture known as Jared Leto in Suicide Squad, I wasn’t confident in anything DC had to offer this character. I was surprised when I sat down to see a genuinely engaging character study that tackles mental illness in such a layered way.
Joker is directed by Todd Phillips. If you did a double-take when reading that name, then we had the same reaction. Phillips is known for directing the Hangover trilogy, Due Date and, War Dogs. The tone and style of Joker are a massive departure from his previous work. In many ways, he succeeds in crafting a captivating film that centers on a character’s descent into madness. It’s clear that Phillips was influenced by Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver while making Joker. Everything from the look of the city to Arthur Fleck himself is strikingly reminiscent of Travis Bickle and his world.
Stylistically, Joker has some impressive cinematography by Lawrence Sher. The gritty depiction of Gotham City looks like a film right out of the 1970s.
The musical score by Hildur Guonadóttir is hauntingly fitting for Arthur’s storyline. The somber cellos and accompanying orchestra pair perfectly with the tragic story we’re watching on screen. It’s one of the best musical scores I’ve heard this year.
Todd Phillips was quite busy with this film as he also wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. I was worried this would be a film celebrating Joker and absolving his many wrongs. However, that is not the case. It shows the audience the origins of the character while still condemning his crimes. At times, this doesn’t feel like a comic book movie. Instead, it feels like a story exploring the importance of mental health in society. It’s an issue we have to take seriously and deal with head-on, instead of running away from it or stigmatizing those who have a mental illness.
I think Phillips and Silver could have easily conveyed Arthur’s situation without so many traumatic events piling up. The constant trauma inflicted on him begins to feel a little repetitive. He’s beaten up in the street, violently attacked in the subway, fired from his job, and yelled at by almost everyone he meets. (These are just non-spoiler examples) At a certain point, there’s got to be a break for Arthur. His life is just so awfully sad.
His life may be terribly sad, but Joaquin Phoenix sure is fantastic portraying the despair. I didn’t believe the film festival hype surrounding his performance, but Joaquin laughed (loudly) in my face. So loudly that I can say he deserves the Oscar buzz. Phoenix has always been a chameleon in roles like Walk the Line, The Master, and Inherent Vice. With Joker, he carries almost the entire film on his shoulders. He shows the audience a portrait of a child-like man who barely knows how to function normally in the world. Still living with his mother, Arthur is an outcast of society trying to find somewhere to fit. He needs to see a little bit of kindness from others. Yet, the constant rejection he faces turns him against the world he desperately wants to be a part of. At many points, it’s uncomfortable to watch, but you can’t look away. Phoenix lost 50 pounds for this role, looking like an emaciated and weak shell of a person. I think this portrayal would have been just as ominous without the dramatic weight loss. (It’s frightening to see actors push their bodies to such dangerous extremes for a movie role.) The most effective part of Phoenix’s performance is the slow descent into madness. In each scene, we can see Arthur’s decline into insanity, which leads to terrifying results.
That awkward moment when your new stand-up routine bombs
While Joaquin Phoenix carries the majority of the film, there are still some supporting characters with pivotal roles. Zazie Beets plays Sophie, Arthur’s well-meaning neighbor, who sparks up a friendship with him. She brings a source of light to his life when everything else seems dark.
Robert De Niro plays the theatrical talk show host Murray Franklin, a Johnny Carson-Esque TV personality. Arthur watches his show every night and mimics his mannerisms carefully, hoping that being like him will help people find him more relatable.
Overall, Joker is a dark and compelling character study focusing on one man’s slow descent into madness. Joaquin Phoenix gives an excellent performance as the iconic DC character, and Todd Phillips’s direction takes a surprisingly impressive turn from his previous comedic work. In many ways, this doesn’t feel like a comic book film, but a story about the complexities of mental illness. When all is said and done, I hope Joker will encourage its audience to treat each other kindly and start taking mental health more seriously.
My Rating: 8/10
*All images belong to Warner Brothers