Joker Movie Review
Nathan Swank
October 4th, 2019
Dressed in clown makeup, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) stares at himself in the mirror. He puts his fingers in his mouth and forcibly widens them to create an unnaturally large smile, much like a child attempting a silly face. Arthur’s gums and teeth are exposed as he stretches his lips wildly in different directions. However, his eyes do not match the happy face he is desperately trying to create. A tear rolls down his face hidden by the white makeup. Standing on a busy city sidewalk, twirling a business sign in full clown costume, Arthur is giving his all to make the best for his paid job. Some unruly kids take his sign and run. Arthur chases them into an alley where they break his sign over his face and kick him repeatedly while he’s down on the ground. A large bold font filling the screen says, JOKER.
JOKER is NOT a superhero movie. JOKER is NOT for kids. Please don’t go into this movie thinking you’re seeing a BATMAN film and definitely not something from the more family friendly MCU when in actuality you are seeing something much more similar to Martin Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER. JOKER is a dark, gritty, violent, character study about the effects of mental illness in a society that rejects you.
Known for comedies like OLD SCHOOL and THE HANGOVER films, director Todd Phillips takes on a much darker material that he co-wrote with Scott Silver (THE FIGHTER, 8 MILE). Set in an early 1980’s Gotham City, JOKER is a very different origin story of perhaps the most infamous villain to ever grace the comic book page. But like I said, this is unrelated to the usual kid-friendly DC material. Once the viewer understand this, JOKER is a, lonely, unsettling, and downright disturbing character study of the effects of ignoring mental illness and how the evil of unkindness can unleash an inexcusable response begatting more evil.
There have been a handful of iconic live-action performances of the maniacal clown – Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton’s BATMAN, Heath Ledger’s unmatchable Oscar winning performance in Christopher Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT, and now Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Phillips’ JOKER. Phoenix’s devastatingly sad and socially awkward portrayal will surely be in the discussion during award season. The performance and film could easily be unrelated to the famous character, as it feels like a very real happening that would eventually be the inspiration to how fictional incarnations of the Joker came to be. Arthur is a struggling comic who seeks laughter but doesn’t understand why people laugh. He lives with and cares for his mother (Frances Conroy), who repeatedly tells him, “he’s such a happy boy.” Phoenix gives a performance that is so uncomfortably perfect, that you believe this troubled human being as absolute truth and it is scary.
There has been some controversy surrounding the violence in JOKER. A controversy I don’t understand as film’s similar to this have been around for years. The likeness to TAXI DRIVER is undeniable. Even Robert De Niro plays a part as a famous late night talk show host that the fatherless Arthur dreams of meeting and seeking approval from one day. I’m not saying it’s quite as prolific or influential as that 1976 classic. But JOKER is an insightful and reflective perspective into our dark world. Perhaps the controversy is more of an indictment of how close to home our own society has fallen to believe we can so easily be persuaded into violence.
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