Joker Review (with some spoilers)

Let me start off by saying this is one of my favourite movies of the 21st century.

No film ever made me feel truly uncomfortable. Not even masterpieces like Taxi Driver, Prisoners or The Exorcist.

Joker changed that. It made me squirm and cringe. It was as disturbing and harrowing as anything I’d ever seen.

And not because it's violent, but because of the film's humanistic portrayal of Joker and the seriousness with which it treats violence and insanity. It is dark, complex and extremely evocative.

Joker features one of the best performances of the century, and probably all time, with Phoenix's turn as Arthur. I have never seen an actor communicate the effects of existential pain and societal rejection so convincingly. Every aspect of his performance, from the harrowed look in his eyes, to his weight loss and skeletal frame, to his awkward style of movement, to his laugh (which expressed pain and despair with utter perfection), truly blew me away. His pain is heart-wrenchingly communicated. It is made tangible, palpable through sheer performance. His transformation from Arthur to Joker is breathtaking . The change in physical movement perfectly mirrors the sense of freedom and calm Arthur feels as Joker. Throughout the entire film, Arthur longs for happiness, and when he finally achieves it as Joker, Phoenix captures that beautifully.

Joker also has a very emotionally affecting story. It is a tragically beautiful, yet also disturbing, depiction of the downward spiral of a man who has been let down by his society. Arthur has been abandoned, left to die in the cold with only his frail, mentally unstable mother to support him. The twist that Penny Fleck was not Arthur’s real mother, but rather she adopted him and allowed him to be abused as a child, was largely unexpected and the scene where Arthur realizes the truth was just brimming with emotions of pain and betrayal.

There were numerous moments throughout the film where Arthur’s plights made me feel truly, truly awful. Take for example, the scene where he attempts his stand-up routine, but he can’t stop his compulsive laughter, and therefore bombs horribly. That moment almost brought me to tears (something the majority of films can’t even come close to achieving).

The film muses on a number of truly timeless themes, such as the prevalence and inclination of humanity towards violence, the effects of isolation on the psyche, the struggle for recognition as a human being and society's mistreatment of the downtrodden (specifically the mentally ill).

Joker is also a visually sumptuous treat. It is an image of chaos and fury, yet absolutely beautiful to view. The colour palette, as well as the manipulation of light and dark in the film makes it visually stunning, and very dynamic. Moreover, the setting of the film – an early 80’s Gotham which is clearly intended to mirror New York City, has been rendered with absolute perfection. Every shot where the city is in view feels totally authentic and real. The city is a character entirely of its own. It is a swirling cesspool of violence, sorrow, despair and abandonment. It is a perfect image of the type of society that would create The Joker.

I cannot write about this film without mentioning Hildur Guðnadóttir's brilliant score. It is truly perfect for this film. Dark and disturbing, yet also charged with emotionality, perfectly expressing Arthur’s state of mind – one of pain, depression and chaotic disarray. It is grinding and rough and deep. It is existential pain made aural.

I will say this... Joker is a complete, utter masterpiece, and dead even with The Dark Knight as my favourite comic book movie ever made, and I could praise this movie for hours on end. Hell, I’ll probably upload a more detailed review of all the things I loved once I have a blu-ray of the film.

Having said all that...

It's also quite possibly a very dangerous film considering the times we live in.

Never has a film shown such a fully realized, realistically humanistic psychopath. He is tragic and to regular people, a very empathetic, if eventually frightening and evil, person. However, I could see the mind of a psychopathic incel viewing Arthur as a relatable and heroic character. I believe incels are people who have been driven to madness and nihilism as a result of rejection from society and simply-put, a lack of love towards them. And that is exactly what the Joker is in this film.

If I was someone who had similar experiences as him, someone beaten down and battered by society, I could absolutely relate to and be inspired by him.

And let me be clear, I don't think this movie will necessarily create a shooter, but rather, I could see it accelerating the mental process that leads to someone with that level of instability and misanthropy committing an act of mass murder.

And that scares me.

To summarize, Joker is a film that I truly love with all my heart and soul. It is bold and harsh, and truly uncomfortable viewing. It brilliantly incorporates elements from previous masterpieces such as Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, yet also honours them. Nevertheless, the beautifully written, humanistic take on a incel-like madman could make this film potentially very dangerous. I think I would have been a lot happier with this movie if it came out, I dunno, maybe 15 to 20 years from now, or however long it takes for this f***ing epidemic of far-right, incel-related gun violence to end.

In any case, I love this movie and I commend the vision of Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix and Scott Silver for creating a bold and beautiful film.

10/10

Thanks for reading.

@wolverinebatmanftw: Mentioned this in another thread: excellent breakdown of the movie!

@wolverinebatmanftw:

I loved it.

It was so good that it was easy to let go of some of the ways I thought the story should go.

Bump

Interesting review.

No such thing as a dangerous movie though and I am willing to die on that hill.

A person who is inspired to violence by a work of fiction is either so far gone that they could have just as easily been triggered by something else, or else they are merely looking for an excuse to justify their own disgusting actions.

Hmm so you don't think that a movie could affect ones behavior? It definitely could, but I don't think that's good enough reason for critics to discredit the film because I have seen way worst films that encourage violence in fact 80% of films now encourage violence knowingly or unknowingly.

@universeichigo1: No. I think mental illness, emotional dysfunction and poor environmental and social circumstances can cause a person to react to or interpret art in a horrifying way. But it's not the art that did it. It's the person.

@bumpyboo:

I agree that a psychopath will commit violent acts regardless, but don't forget, there is a long mental process that leads to that. The person would have to stew, they'd have to think about it a lot, and I absolutely think movies like this may well accelerate the mental process that leads to a person deciding, yeah, I'm gonna go shoot up that school or whatever the circumstance may be. I think Joker has inadvertently provided an inspirational figure to these incels and misanthropes, someone they can relate to and feel a connection with, even if the movie was trying to make the viewer feel uncomfortable.

@wolverinebatmanftw: but what of non violent people or art that inspire violence? Should the Beatles take responsibility for Charles Mason? What about John Hinckley Jr and his obsession with Jodie Foster? People who aren't mentally well will find their state of mind validated anywhere they look.

But the art did pay a major role in stirring up those desires to commit violent acts, the truth remains that every standard human has once thought of performing violence (of different degrees)but a movie which so much glorifies that violence as being a good thing would definitely hit home in the minds of people and not everyone will have the restraint to NOT go into a school and shoot the entirety of people there especially when the tools for such act (guns) is stirring you right in the face.

@bumpyboo:

As I said, I agree that they will find validation somewhere, but why risk adding to the list of possible sources? And besides, this is far more wide-reaching and popular than an obscure subreddit post. It is far more likely that they will see this before they see a hate-speech filled post on some subreddit.

Also, because the film is so good, I think it could sort of 'legitimize' their views and validate them even more strongly than direct hate speech.

Great review.

@deactivated-5da4f5de81abe: @theamazingspidey:

Thanks! I'm glad you liked the review, and appreciate the kind words.

But by the same logic the movie could result in many people reevaluating the societal issues that are being highlighted in it and moving towards openly discussing and focusing more on discovering the actual root of the problem.