Joker- Making sure nobody gets the punchline
Ever since the infamous clown prince of crimes first comic book appearance by Bob Kane and fellow writers of DC Comics in 1940, one thing that has always been unanimously agreed to is that we would never know the true origins of the villain known as "The Joker". As time has gone by we have come close to revealing this great comic book mystery with Alan Moore's The Killing Joke with the red hood, or Tim Burtons Joker played by Jack Nicholson who famously falls into a pool of acid. However most die hard fans agree that what truly makes The Joker memorable and frightening is the mystery itself, that we will never know what drives his love of crime and that chaos is an unstoppable force of madness. So we then arrive to Todd Phillips's 2019 interpretation of Joker (ironically not called "The Joker") which attempts to combine the story of a man who wants the world to love and accept him and a battle of class of society where chaos is brewing.
Arthur Flick is a clown for hire who lives with his frail mother, is beaten and ridiculed on the streets of Gotham and is living with a soul crushing mental illness where he cannot control his laughter. While living in his own fantasies of making people smile and laugh for him, he becomes the unlikely icon of a revolution of chaos and violence where he must discover is past and begin his journey to the cackling mastermind we revere. Flick is brilliantly performed by an almost unrecognisable Joaquin Phoenix who has recently been on a typecast of psychotic representations of emotionally broken masculinity with You Were Never Really Here, Her and The Master. Everything from his mannerisms to his almost skeletal weight loss presents such a rich transformation of someone losing himself to a world that he cant understand and that in turn, doesn't understand him. However rather than falling down the usual road of making him feel sympathetic to the audience, we have a character study similar to that of Michael Douglas in Falling Down. His experience of being treated like dirt is his excuse to become judge jury and executioner which isn't sympathetic but rather antagonistic. What has made The Joker a likeable villain is his witty charm and unpredictable humour, however in this film Phillips makes sure that he is never intentionally funny, but rather a representation of pity in his crazed and unhinged state.
Now after Phillips previous films with The Hangover trilogy and other works of American comedy, moving to a serious drama about the implications of comedy is a big 180 for him. However you can see that Phillips has a fondness for the gritty films of the 70's and 80's that are referenced and imitated here. These are mostly Scorsese films such as Taxi Driver and King of Comedy (which both star Robert De Niro who also appears in this film) which do relate both with the time that the film is set and the mental state of our protagonist in comparison to Travis Bickle or Rupert Pupkin. Now while imitation can be seen as a effective motivation if used the right way, Phillips seems to be relying too heavily on this nostalgic lens to create a reaction from his audience. I found this to be a crutch throughout the film as it felt more like a homage than an original piece, like a film student who hasn't found an individual film style so he copies what other auteurs do. It may be minor and most fans of the prince of crime won't notice the difference, but I think this is what separates it from a good Joker film to something rivalling Christopher Nolans Dark Knight film.
In the end, seeing this films success after picking up the grand prize at the Venice Film Festival certainly is a strange feeling having a film intended to cause controversy become one of the highest grossing films of the year. If anything this proves that you can present any genre of film with any personal message and it will gain worldwide attention, as long as it has a comic book character in it. I'm happy to see a different approach to a genre that continues its one note money printing style in Marvel and DC films. I just wish that this could of become its own beast entirely, rather than cling on the coattails of other successful works of cinema, past and present. And if you want proof that this film has cemented itself already in our current history, just see how many people are taking selfies on the steps of the Bronx where Flick danced his troubles away.
Film Grade- B+
Arthur Flick is a clown for hire who lives with his frail mother, is beaten and ridiculed on the streets of Gotham and is living with a soul crushing mental illness where he cannot control his laughter. While living in his own fantasies of making people smile and laugh for him, he becomes the unlikely icon of a revolution of chaos and violence where he must discover is past and begin his journey to the cackling mastermind we revere. Flick is brilliantly performed by an almost unrecognisable Joaquin Phoenix who has recently been on a typecast of psychotic representations of emotionally broken masculinity with You Were Never Really Here, Her and The Master. Everything from his mannerisms to his almost skeletal weight loss presents such a rich transformation of someone losing himself to a world that he cant understand and that in turn, doesn't understand him. However rather than falling down the usual road of making him feel sympathetic to the audience, we have a character study similar to that of Michael Douglas in Falling Down. His experience of being treated like dirt is his excuse to become judge jury and executioner which isn't sympathetic but rather antagonistic. What has made The Joker a likeable villain is his witty charm and unpredictable humour, however in this film Phillips makes sure that he is never intentionally funny, but rather a representation of pity in his crazed and unhinged state.
Now after Phillips previous films with The Hangover trilogy and other works of American comedy, moving to a serious drama about the implications of comedy is a big 180 for him. However you can see that Phillips has a fondness for the gritty films of the 70's and 80's that are referenced and imitated here. These are mostly Scorsese films such as Taxi Driver and King of Comedy (which both star Robert De Niro who also appears in this film) which do relate both with the time that the film is set and the mental state of our protagonist in comparison to Travis Bickle or Rupert Pupkin. Now while imitation can be seen as a effective motivation if used the right way, Phillips seems to be relying too heavily on this nostalgic lens to create a reaction from his audience. I found this to be a crutch throughout the film as it felt more like a homage than an original piece, like a film student who hasn't found an individual film style so he copies what other auteurs do. It may be minor and most fans of the prince of crime won't notice the difference, but I think this is what separates it from a good Joker film to something rivalling Christopher Nolans Dark Knight film.
In the end, seeing this films success after picking up the grand prize at the Venice Film Festival certainly is a strange feeling having a film intended to cause controversy become one of the highest grossing films of the year. If anything this proves that you can present any genre of film with any personal message and it will gain worldwide attention, as long as it has a comic book character in it. I'm happy to see a different approach to a genre that continues its one note money printing style in Marvel and DC films. I just wish that this could of become its own beast entirely, rather than cling on the coattails of other successful works of cinema, past and present. And if you want proof that this film has cemented itself already in our current history, just see how many people are taking selfies on the steps of the Bronx where Flick danced his troubles away.
Film Grade- B+
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