Joker

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham, Bill Camp

Director: Todd Phillips

Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) is a down on his luck clown for hire who is one bad review away from being fired. He lives at home with his mom (Conroy), a former employee of Thomas Wayne (Cullen) who is obsessed with writing him letters, believing she has something important to tell him that will fix their current situation. Every night they watch the Murray Franklin (DeNiro) Talk Show together. Above all else, Arthur dreams of being a stand-up comedian. However, due to a condition that launches Arthur into uncontrollable fits of laugher, he creeps a lot of people out and often leads to him being bullied, picked on, and otherwise discarded by society. He starts to stand up for himself after meeting his kind neighbor Sophie (Beetz), resulting in Arthur killing three Wall Street businessmen in self defense. This leads Arthur on a journey of discovery about himself and his past, which leads to him becoming the most sinister and feared villain in comic book history. This is sure to be a divisive film and it is not for everyone. Those expecting a comic book film are in for a surprise. The violence is shocking and graphic and a lot of story elements are dark and ultimately unpleasant. These types of movies have their place and it’s commendable that the film went for something different. Some will hail this as a masterpiece. For me, the film feels shallow, mean spirited, empty, and ultimately fails because it’s confused about what it’s trying to say in the end, if it is really trying to say anything at all. It’s hard not to think of director Todd Phillips’ recent comments in Vanity Fair, where he bemoans the state of comedy today and how he feels he can’t do comedies anymore because in today’s culture it would just anger people. This sentiment is very alive and present within the story of Joker and it’s hard to not view this as a self righteous and pretentious pity party. I understand that the film is presented from Arthur’s point of view, which paints things that happen in a different and questionable light. This is fine, however I think where Phillips and co writer Scott Silver run into issues is that they sympathize and potentially even idolize Arthur’s actions, instead of letting the audience decide on their own whether they are behind Arthur or not. The only thing that keeps this from being an all around misfire is a commanding performance by Joaquin Phoenix. He’s honestly never been better and is even able to wring a little bit of sympathy into Arthur and keeps us involved through his journey, even when he dives into morally grey story beats. The rest of the cast is fine but since this is Phoenix’s show, they are relegated to supporting roles and don’t really make much of an impact on the story. Also worth commending is the cinematography. This is a gorgeous looking movie with cinematographer Lawrence Sher probably getting a nomination. I didn’t think we needed a Joker origin story and after watching the film I still believe that. The Joker works best as a catalyst for chaos and we don’t really need to understand where he is coming from for him to be an effective villain. Despite a fantastic lead performance, this is a disturbing movie with a questionable moral compass that has its priorities mixed up. There is a much better story out there about someone who has been beaten and discarded by society. This tone deaf attempt isn’t it. D