Joker offers deep drama, a well-constructed story, strong directing and artistic camera work, which combine to create a whole which transcends the sum of its parts.
I will begin by saying that if there is one movie I will remember from the many movies I watched this year, it will be this movie. This is not just another superhero movie, as one might think. Joker is a dark human drama, about those who live on the wrong side of society, about poverty, loneliness and madness. The movie has already manage to grab the Golden Lion award in the Venice festival, and if not for the severe criticism turned against it, it would have probably been nominated to this year’s Oscars. Who know, it might still do that. We will see.
The movie tells the story of Arthur Fleck, a failed clown who barely manages to scrape by, lives with his widowed mother in solitude and no real friends. A series of events affects the mentally ill Arthur, and gradually sends him down in to the deeps of madness until he becomes the Joker we know.
The Opposed
Reviews, especially in the US, claim that this is an especially violent movie, which praises violence for violence’s sake. It has been claimed that the protagonist serves as a symbol to men who hate women and choose solitude. They also say the movie is a danger to society. I agree with a lot of this criticism. Families of gun violence victims went against the movie, and everybody who feels compelled by politicly correct culture (as many in the American Media are) ask to throw this movie to the trash bin of history.
This criticism is not unfounded. On July 20, 2012, James Holmes went into a screening of “Rise of the Dark Knight” in Colorado, and started shooting using a pistol and a rifle he had in his possession. He killed 12 people and injured many others. The Shooter claimed the Joker has served as inspiration to the murder spree. This movie could easily serve as inspiration for similar attacks.
“Go try to be funny nowadays with this woke culture,” said the movie’s director Todd Phillips to Vanity Fair in an interview. Not that this movie has an ounce of humor. Maybe cynicism, maybe sadism, maybe laughter about other people’s suffer, or about the madness which takes hold of the protagonist.
The Supporters
So what makes this movie so great, anyway? Because for anyone not committed to the so called “woke” culture, and sees the world as it really is, without limiting him/herself to the nice or popular, this movie presents a reliable mirror and a human drama which can pass as reality – albeit dark, grim and a little extreme. It hurts to see the amount of suffer in Gotham, and even sadder to understand that it is an allegory for almost any big city in the world, and especially New York. The movie tells about those whom human society has sent to the sidelines, the odd and forgotten ones, those who don’t do to the movies and are not usually presented on the big screen. In this movie, there are no miracles and no super-powers and no redemption. Only a slow sliding into the abyss – a crash, complete with the impact with the ground and footage of the sidewalk afterwards.
This is, perhaps, a good place to warn that if you suffer from depression or anxiety, or if you are sensitive to graphical portrayal of blood and violence – give up in advance and skip this movie. The same goes if you are looking for a standard superhero movie.
The Punchline
Joker is a well made psychological thriller. Unlike in other super-heroes from DC, most of whom suffer from a some kind or other of psychological problem, here, the problem is the essence. The movie doesn’t have Gal Gadot’s charm, but it does have excellent acting and superb casting for all of the roles, and especially for the main role, for which Joaquin Pheonix seems to have been born. You won’t find crazy explosions and action, but you will find deep drama, a well-constructed story strong directing and artistic camera work, which combine to create a whole which transcends the sum of its parts.
The movie builds the Joker we know, layer after layer. You wouldn’t necessarily identify with the movie’s villain, but it sure is convincing. Or if you are not identify than at list understand an have pity for him – the most terrifying of DC’s super villains.
