During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
A disturbingly methodical character study that’s impossible to take your eyes off of, “Joker”, directed by Todd Phillips, is a grueling, unnervingly dark film that showcases a grotesquely tormented nightmare of a character wrapped around a blanket of harshness that manifests society and their views on the lower class.
.
Viewed by the public eye as nothing more than a person to be walked on, a failed, heavily medicated clown that’s craving satisfaction strives to make a change in his life. Isolated, bullied, and disregarded by society, the clown begins a slow descent into madness, as he causes a chain reaction that will forever change “Gotham City”.
.
The film opens with a broadcast stating that there’s rats rampaging on the streets and a garbage strike is at effect. The poor are being treated like the rats and the richer are unaware of these events, and a man, a troubled professional clown and wannabe stand up comedian, sits in front of a luminescent mirror while the broadcast is blaring in the background. As the camera slowly creeps on him as he’s applying makeup, he attempts to smile and resorts to holding the corners of his mouth up in a grin that stretches from ear to ear. A single tear rolls down his cheek unnoticed. This opening has no elaborate costume or burst of CGI in sight. Just a man. A sad clown, surrounded by pure, unsettling darkness. This intro alarms the audience that they are not about to watch a comic book film filled with action and plot macguffins. “Joker” is far from it.
.
While taking character traits of its original comic book source material, it’s immediately apparent that the film is far from the tales about superpowered humans and clashes of good and evil. Director Todd Phillips, with care and patience, painstakingly instead constructs a devastatingly beautiful story of a mentally unstable man at his wit’s end when pushed beyond his breaking point. Every single frame, scene, and word of dialogue in this film serves a purpose, with nothing overly bloated nor unnecessary to the overall plot. The film’s narrative doesn’t glorify mental illness, rather it makes a compelling case of a deeply disturbed individual struggling to find a coping mechanism, desperately trying to survive the cruel, brutality of society while gradually evolving into a man of chaos due to the constant abuse.
.
Our main character is one of life’s victims, as he’s beaten up, mocked, and abused as the rules and codes that structure a society remains unknown to him. He stands outside the world, partly due to a condition which causes uncontrollable laughter, his eyes thick with pain and sadness as another laughing fit overcomes him and the world retreats yet further. But your empathy, sympathy even, isn’t guaranteed, as our main character begins to dissolve as he moves even further to the edges of madness, drifting into fanciful fantasies where the spotlight is on him. It’s a sad, chaotic, slow burning study of an ill person who isn’t visible. One who’s spent their life wallowing in physical abuse and being neglected. A perfect story of how someone can be driven into darkness, into becoming a villain, but in his eyes, he’s the hero.
.
The film is an indictment of a society’s collective disregard for the well being of its citizens and critiquing how the rich walk on top of the poor and are treated with class. That being said, everyone in this film can be as callous and vicious as the rich and powerful. While I’m breaking my rule of comparing films, “Joker’s” “Arthur Fleck” is like “Taxi Driver’s” “Travis Bickle”, “Bickle” calls himself “God’s lonely man”, then “Fleck” is certainly “Gotham’s lonely man”, As he’s ultimately seeking human connection, something he tragically won’t find, so instead he puts on a happy face and violently exposes the city’s own hypocrisies and inhumanity. .
.
Unnervingly played by Joaquin Phoenix, the mentally ill “Arthur Fleck” is a dedicated and immersive performance, one that will arguably be remembered as one of the greatest “Joker” performances to ever grace the screen. Phoenix puts on a happy face behind his depressing pain, portraying a sense of misery, glee, and madness all at once. His body posture is wickedly twisted and hunched in way that it’s uncomfortable to watch him walk down a street or even stand without his clothing on. When he eventually transforms, he becomes graceful with his body movement, resembling an agile dancer. It’s simultaneously difficult to watch and yet, memorizing to bare witness to.
.
One cannot break down this film without discussing the technical aspects of it. The gorgeous cinematography follows “Arthur” for nearly the entire feature, getting claustrophobically tight on Phoenix, which adds to making the audience feel like there in “Arthur’s” tortured headspace. While the film is considerably dark and gloomy in some sequences, cinematographer Lawrence Sher injects hints of oranges and browns to give the film’s picture a more dirty feel. The use of the wide shots throughout the film establishes the city of 1980s era “Gotham” as a place of grimy despair, extreme wealth disparity, and festering lawlessness, teetering on the brink of collapse. The gritty atmosphere leaves as a beautiful visual that’s further elevated by the masterful cinematography work.
.
Praise must be given to Hildur Guðnadóttir’s riveting score that’s mournful, Dark, and fractured. Mainly comprised of string based instruments and background orchestra, the powerful score is a beautifully haunting fit for the tone and character of the film. The score entwines perfectly whenever Phoenix dances between the light and the shadows of the bathroom, each bone visible and sharp as the strings swell and scratch.
.
“Joker” is a bold, devastating, and utterly brilliant film that not just reimagined one of the most iconic villains in comic book history, but reimagined the definition of an origin tale. “Arthur Fleck’s” gradual descent into madness is a fantastically fascinating character study that shows how becoming isolated from society and being told that you’re “different” can drive someone down a spiral of despair and depravity. The impactful adaptation of “Batman’s” greatest foe is carried strongly by Joaquin Phoenix’s fully committed performance and Todd Phillips’ beautifully crafted story that not only is opened to many different interpretations, but it raises unsettling questions about a cruel society in decline because of the rich and the “clowns” below them. “Joker” earns my highest regard and is a film that shouldn’t be missed by anyone who cherishes cinema.
