Joker Review: Sympathy For The Devil
Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is a pitiful man with a condition in which he compulsively laughs until he can barely breathe. While living in a slum in 1980's Gotham City, he takes care of his eccentric mother Penny, who dreams of one day being taken care of by mayoral candidate Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen). Every day, he goes to work as a party clown with aspirations of being a stand up comedian. Economic troubles, social unrest and his own mental anguish regarding himself, his past and the rising anger from the lower-income citizenry push Arthur into a downward spiral the effects of which not even his fevered mind could contemplate.
This review has been something of a long time coming for me, personally.I'm not usually a big fan of villains. That's not to say I don't enjoy some villains (Rowena on Supernatural is a personal favorite of mine), but by and large when a character is a bad guy and the story needs me to dislike them, it doesn't take much prompting. But then you have stories where the villain is excruciatingly human and it's tough not to at least understand their motivations for their actions. I think that's the key factor to a good villain: motivation. Which is a steep mountain to climb when it comes to an iconic villain like The Joker.
To call The self-proclaimed "Clown Prince of Crime" mercurial would be the grand-daddy of all understatements. His motivations change with nearly each appearance. One moment, he wants to sell fishes full of Joker-venom, the next, he wants to run for President. One time he wants to kill all of Batman's family and comrades, the next he's trying to ruin Jim Gordon's sanity.You never quite know what to expect when the gruesome grinning gangster shows up. Even when it comes to his backstory, he would "prefer it to be multiple choice." Which is pretty much at the heart of Joker.
Let me be absolutely clear about this right now, Joaquin Phoenix gives a STELLAR performance. He puts his entire body and mind into this performance and completely owns each scene he's in. Phoenix looks like this role exacted a heavy toll on him portraying such an emaciated, pathetic figure. But at the same time, there's a dark, sinister foreboding bubbling under the surface. It gives an uneasy sense of menace to every scene he's in. Joaquin Phoenix's performance is worth the price of admission alone.
One other mark of praise I will give the film is that the cinematography and gritty aesthetic of Gotham City were top notch. It evokes a dilapidated metropolis with the contrast of the bright lights of the rich and famous with the shadows and dim bleakness of the unprivileged and forgotten. Anyone who's seen Taxi Driver or King Of Comedy can see the influence of Scorsese dripping off of every frame of this movie. The lighting and colorization of each scene sets the tone it's meant to convey perfectly, from the darkness of Arthur and Penny watching Robert DeNiro's Murray Franklin, to the bright, vibrant bombast of Joker's "coming out" scene on the now famous staircase in The Bronx. This is a technically well-crafted movie, for whatever misgivings I may have.
Having said all of that, this is a strange, depressing and often times uncomfortable movie to watch. The violence isn't excruciating or out of place, just abrupt and visceral. The hopelessness of economic inequality echoes the current strife of today's society with the subtlety of a sledgehammer lobotomy. As relatable as Arthur's situation can be to some, it doesn't distract from his less endearing qualities like making an entire relationship in his head about a woman he shared an elevator with and briefly stalked.
Watching someone spiral into madness can be an intriguing experience, but it can also cause self-reflection. If we went through what Arthur endured in this movie, would we be any better or would we ourselves lose our minds? That's what the movie would like to ask, I'm sure. But it doesn't really bother to. I'd go as far to say this movie really doesn't have anything to say about anything. It's not trying to be a grand political statement about the downtrodden citizens rising up to overtake the privileged, because the main character doesn't really care about that. He just happens to relate to or come from similar situations as those who live in poverty and having their medical care cut in order for the rich and powerful to live high on the metaphorical hog.
Another thing that the story seems to gloss over is the notion of reliable narration. Certain revelations about not only Arthur but particular interactions with other characters, namely Sophie, an apparent love interest (played by Zazie Beets), it's shown that our protagonist's view of the world isn't necessarily one we can simply take at face value. Even though it's not specifically narrated to us in voiceover (like in Taxi Driver one of the movie's clear artistic inspirations) we still see the world framed through Arthur's perspective. Which throws how people's interactions with Arthur into question. Even at the end, we're not quite sure if what we watched was even real, but then again, that's probably the most Joker-ish thing of all.
As something of a side note, I want to take a moment to laugh at the hand-wringing fear-mongering that the media tried to put forth about this movie being so violent, so insane, so horrible, that it would inspire incels or aggressive male douchebags into going on killing sprees. First of all, while popular culture is known for people missing the point of a story, someone who ends up shooting up any place usually was headed down that path anyway and it isn't the fault of a fictional felonious fool. Secondly, while Arthur does display creepy behavior, especially toward Sophie, he doesn't show a sense of entitlement, at least not towards her. His concerns and cares seem to stem more about his own well-being and what he can get. And third, all this movie has inspired as of the time of writing this article is a bunch of folks clogging up a stairway in The Bronx.
Now that's funny.
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