You won’t walk out of Joker feeling
good. It’s such a beautiful movie but at the same time, it will make you feel
weird, disgusted and scared.
Even though the movie is called
Joker, don’t expect to see a Joker you are familiar with. This is an origin story.
It’s a dark tragedy that follows a man with a mental illness on the route to
absolute insanity. How did a man become a messed-up lunatic like The Joker?
Well, if you want an answer, you are going to have to go see the movie and
decide for yourself. Was he disregarded by society? Was it because we as abused
as a child? Maybe he was always destined to become crazy.
Todd Phillips (writer/director) showcased
the terror that can live in someone’s head and how it can continue to grow until
that person reaches a breaking point. I was scared. Not because the movie is a
horror movie but because it felt so real. During this movie you root for Arthur
Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) to get better. As you start to see him go down that
dangerous path you hope that he finds his way onto a better one. You don’t want
him to become the person that you know he will eventually become.
Since the movie is told through the
eyes of Arthur Fleck you feel like you are living in is head. Fleck is an
unreliable narrator meaning that you never know if what you see is true, or if
it’s just inside his head. The musical score really helps you get inside his
head. At first, I was thrown off by the score. It was rough, unconventional and
it really didn’t sound that good. Then I realized why the score sounded off. The
music personifies what is going on in his head. When you have a character like
Arthur Fleck whose mind is rough and unconventional, it’s only fitting that
that music is as well.
This movie rides or dies with
Joaquin Phoenix. When I heard they were making a Joker origin movie I was
skeptic. It just wasn’t something I was interested in. I knew the Joker. I
liked the Joker. I didn’t need to know where he came from. Phoenix is really
picky about the movies that he does. When it was announced that he was cast I instantly
became excited. There had to be something in that script that was special
enough for Phoenix to come on board. There is not a universe where Phoenix doesn’t
get an Oscar nomination. Granted we haven’t really seen to many Oscar movies
yet however, I’m going to say it’s a lock that Phoenix gets nominated. His
performance is a slow performance. Meaning that you truly appreciated it when
the movie is over, and you can reflect on the journey that he went on. I’ve
seen this movie twice now and his performance was even better the second time.
Joker is outstanding. If I was
teaching a film class, I would make sure one of the movies we would go over is
Joker. It’s a great character study that asks the question, what makes someone
go crazy. The score, along with Phoenix’s performance makes it so you feel like
you are a part of his head going on this scary journey with him. Joker is one
of the years best. Expect it so show up a lot during awards season.
Joker receives an A+.
