TEARS OF A CLOWN

Rating: 8/10 (31 October 2019)

The superhero movie that isn't. That's a good thing. Not one fat Hollywood buck was spent on CGI. Not that anyone gives a buck, but there you have it.
"Joker" is a cruel and beautiful prank on what's left of the D.C Universe: a standalone tale following a deeply disturbed misfit derailing and dragging a willing audience along (both on screen and off) for his special train wreck in a garbage strikken Gotham City (pssst: 1981 New York).
Youngsters may not recognize the "Taxi Driver" and "King of Comedy" mash up going on here, but that's ok. Joker works both as a fanboy's dedication, and as a singular stab at noire art. The screen is filled with magnetic Auroras of bluesy greens, and sporadically splashed with blood red ejaculate. It looks fabulous. It sounds fabulous - full of creepy beautiful Frank Sinatra crooning.
Sorry comic book devotees, Batman tie ins are the weak points here, and should have rightly been excised to the cutting room floor. "Joker" is all smoking' Joaquin Phoenix, as he stumbles, trips, falls, rises, dances, and destroys. It is a feral and an all consuming performance, rendering everything else to background bokeh.
Crazy that it was Phoenix who dropped fifty pounds for this role and not Christian Bale. Though this sets up the inevitable anorexic battle: Batman vs Joker.