Joker (2019)

(Quick note: Had written a post on this ages ago but an unfortunate accident made me lose my entire draft. Eventually found 70% of a previous one, but took me a while to find the courage to write it again).

After months in anticipation, I finally got to see the Joker, probably the most hyped film of 2019.

The project brought together a set of peculiar elements that from its genesis created a tremendous amount of curiosity from fans and critics all around the world.

The idea of having a standalone movie of a DC villain to begin with, was something never seen before and this was no ordinary villain.

The Joker has been brought to life by iconic actors such as Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, the latter even going on to win an Oscar for his portrayal in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight (2008).

This is already enough to create a lot of buzz, but it doesn't end there.

Director Todd Phillips, with a resume made purely of comedies such as The Hangover (2009), was brought to helm this project with Joaquin Phoenix as his leading man.

Phoenix, a well respected actor in Hollywood with three Oscar nominations to his name, suddenly took this "origins" movie to a whole new level. Even with a unproved director in this genre, people knew that for Phoenix to be involved, the film would likely be bound to a certain quality standard.

The buzz kept growing and growing... so much so that, once the first trailer was released,  people were already talking about the Oscars before the Joker even came out.

Fans expressed their excitement by going to iMDB and giving top marks without having watched the film. This and much more gave away the impression that a big campaign was set in motion to promote and create a massive hype around it. And it worked.

People - including myself - could not wait to see this movie in the big screens, hoping to get answers to some burning questions...

How would Phillips fare in this film? 
How dark and method would Phoenix go to deliver this character? 
Which directions was this movie taking? 
Would we see a lot of DC "Easter eggs"? 
How much of Martin Scorsese's - one of Philips biggest influences and once tipped to be a exec producer in this film - work inspired this film? 
Would the movie take inspiration from some of the graphic novel's biggest and most popular issues?

And more importantly...

Would it live up to the hype?

Well, I can say that the movie is very good...

... But it doesn't match the hype...

... and it certainly doesn't match the obscene 8.8/10 score on iMDB.

I even watched the movie for a second time, which was enough to clear some of the doubts on my mind about the character's transformation and it helped me to get rid of the shackles that kept me tied to my own views of the "Clown Prince of Crime".

Having seen so many different incarnations of the character, I admit it was difficult to start fresh and let go of the preconceptions that stopped me to feel any empathy towards Arthur Fleck, the protagonist of this film.

I did, however, benefit from the second viewing and gained a total different appreciation, but even with that, the Joker still doesn't rank among the film elite.

Sure, it gave us a fresh approach into the comic book genre, opening up a series of different possibilities when it comes to exploring new and more compelling narratives... and yes, the fact that it is now the highest grossing R-Rated film in history does provide the movie a memorable milestone...

... but even with that in mind, I don't believe this is a film people will be talking about in years to come, like some of the timeless masterpieces which this particular movie drew inspiration from.

Having said that though, I also don't side with the critics who had very mixed feelings about it, leading to a 69% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Philips convincingly breaks away from the comedy genre into the darker realms of an obsessive character study, drawing inspiration from Scorsese's movies such as Taxi Driver (1976) and The King of Comedy (1982), as well as the graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke.

The Joker, created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, had its debut in 1940 without ever really having a backstory to his name. His origins have always remained a mystery... strong with ambiguity and many alternative suggestions as to why he is who he is and how he came about.

In reality, this was always seen by many as a blank canvas for artists to explore different narratives.

Alan Moore did exactly that in 1988 when he wrote The Killing Joke, and so did Philips with his latest cinematic effort.

The movie paints a grim picture of the world, with little to no room for kindness, in an exaggerated attempt to hold a mirror to the viewers face as it to make us question our daily actions and how they are impacting people around us on a daily basis.

For this film, Gotham City was inspired in New York of the early 80s. Through its fast pace and NY attitude, it aimed to convey something relatable to the audience... and here is where I had a hard time accepting a place that truly had no compassion or sympathy towards its fellow citizens. Nothing good ever happens to Fleck and it is within those lines that we start seeing a lot of "cause and effect".

One of the striking points of the Joker is the its mission to lead the audience into thinking of their own tolerance and empathy towards others. What may well be a thoughtless and somewhat meaningless reaction on our part, can instigate serious repercussions.

Phoenix's portrayal of Arthur shows us a glimpse of such repercussions through the eyes of a character who suffers from acute mental illness and a particular condition that makes him laugh uncontrollably in situations of high stress.

Being a a misunderstood misfit, the lack of acceptance and empathy bring Arthur to a breaking point.

In fact, Arthur's downward spiral into madness - escalated by his first taste of violence and later by his decision to stop taking high doses of prescribed medication, is reminiscent of a recurrent theme to the Joker's canon.

Heath Ledger's version tackled it in The Dark Knight:

Madness is like gravity. All it takes is a little push

This seemingly also takes inspiration of Batman: The Killing Joke most iconic and infamous monologue, that truly defines the existence of the Batman and the Joker:

All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. 

That's how far the world is from where I am. 

Just one bad day.

It is this concept that bonds both these characters. Despite their roles as hero and villain, both characters are consequence of "one bad day" that brought them on the edge of madness, altering forever their core and leading them to become the men they are... It is the exploration of trauma and its consequences that have made their dynamics so interesting and appealing to a global audience.

In the film however, the traumatic experience is told through the eyes of someone who's facing different demons that are not under his grasp, shining a spotlight on mental illness as the biggest theme. The subject, which has been targeted by many viewers, health experts and movie critics - It is brought to life in some heavy strokes, masterfully applied by a Joaquin Phoenix who - so far - has probably the best leading performance of the year.

This is not his finest, however.

If Phoenix goes on to win an Oscar for this role - a high possibility - it wouldn't be for his best career performance. I would say that you still have ahead The Master (2012) and You Were Never Really Here (2017). The latter is the more subtle out of the films, but maybe the most difficult. It is a character that has very limited body language, hardly no spoken lines, ticks or mannerisms. You compare it to the Joker and you are reaching for the opposite end.

Joker is filled with ticks, flamboyant body language, facial expressions... his laughter, his mental illness condition and most notably his body transformation, which grabs the attention of the audience.

I mean, how do you ignore it?

The man survived on a diet of just 500 calories a day, reportedly losing 24 kilos in the process to obtain the look demanded by the director. It certainly lead to more than just the look of the actor, also contributing to his unbalanced mindset for the character.

With regards to his body transformation though, I have one of my other pet peeves against this film.

It felt like there were a group of scenes purposelessly choreographed in a way to exploit Phoenix's look, almost as if his performance was "screaming" for attention.

We all know the Academy and audiences worldwide "love a body transformation" in order to provide as real of a performance as possible... and as much as I can appreciate that, I felt that in the Joker it was totally overboard. No longer was I seeing it as a full commitment to the character, but rather a gimmick.

Having said that though, it us still just a slight note on what is truly a magnificent rendition of the Joker, which should get Phoenix recognition in next year's award season.

In general, is it an all-round great film, - one of the year's best so far - with beautiful cinematography, good use of (understated) music, fabulous acting ("The Joaquin Phoenix show") and plenty of food for thought on today's society and its dealings with the mentally ill and the marginalized and de-franchised.

It isn't what everyone is making it to be though.