Please don't let there be a sequel.

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2019)

What a brilliant left-of-field movie this is. In this boring staid cinema environment of franchises, sequels, prequels, remakes, reboots, who saw this coming? Ask yourself these questions: Who ever thought perhaps the most iconic villain in comic book history could have a moving origin story? Who thought that the world of DC comics could create a moving, and even realistic, portrayal of mental illness? Who would have thought that the guy responsible for obnoxious comedies like "Road Trip", "Old School" and all those Hangover movies was capable of making a movie that pays homage to classics "Taxi Driver" and "King of Comedy" - without disgracing either film?
You already know what the movie is about. It's not really complicated. It's not really even plot-oriented. Yes, this is the downward spiral of one Arthur Fleck, failed comedian, who comes to call himself Joker, and in his insanity inspires a revolution that could easily lead to him being crowned the Clown Prince of Crime. It's a gripping, moving character study, with a performance from Phoenix that may be the year's best.
The hardest thing about mental illness, Fleck writes, in his Travis Bickle-esque journal, is that you have to pretend you don't have it. When he wrote that, he didn't realise what this movie teaches you: that normies might expect you to pretend, but there's a wide world of Joker types out there, people who never had a chance. When mainstream society spurns you, for better or worse, you are not alone.
Robert de Niro, as the co-star, proves that 2019 is the year he was ready to stop messing around with garbage like "Dirty Grandpa" and take this acting thing seriously again. People were starting to doubt if he still cared. Those doubts end now.
But yes, the real star of the show is Joaquin Phoenix. I began this review with some questions, but I left out perhaps the most obvious one:
Who ever thought that the character of the Joker could be enriched with another portrayal that's good enough to rival the one Heath Ledger gave us in "The Dark Knight"?