Outstanding performance, beautiful but flawed film...

Rating: 7/10 (9 October 2019)

So everything you have heard about Phoenix's performance is deserved. It is by far one of the greatest efforts to tell a man's slide into despair and unhinged madness ever put to film. The comparisons to Taxi Driver especially and King of Comedy serve the movie well. In the same way that De Niro's Travis Bickell was socially inadequate and awkward and could not relate to people is here with Fleck too. Fleck is a physically twisted desicated husk of wretched failure, and crucially like Bickel his journey is hard to watch and you genuinely feel bad, almost guilty watching him as entertainment. However this is where the story begins to fail. The film completely lacks any degree of subtlety in telling the Jokers story. It may not be fair drawing such a blatant comparison to Taxi Driver but then the film is so unapologetically influenced by it, it revels in going into great detail about his origins and his tragic childhood. This is where the Ledger's Joker succeeds so well. He lied so much, he was a planner when he said he wasn't, he told conflicting stories about his scars and most effectively of all, he was utterly unpredictable and dangerous. I remember having a feeling of dread as to what mad lethal craziness he was going to do next and you did believe him when he said he was an 'agent of chaos'. At no point in Joker did I sense this, you have a pretty good idea of what he will do even when the film tries to indicate he may choose another path. Crucially Phoenix's joker lacks mystery. Everything is so explained there is not the possibility for the audience to use their own imagination as to his horrendous past.
Phoenix absolutely deserves all the praise he is getting, he breathes Fleck with such visceral rawness he makes him both equally captivating and painful to watch. The film itself is beautifully designed, the soundtrack matches the mood and tone and the cinematography is especially impressive. It's such a shame the story let the story down so to speak but the film did do what a great film should and leave an impression. My friends and I were left talking about the film long after it finished which is what a great film should do. Worth seeing for sure.