Visceral gut punch

Rating: 9/10 (8 October 2019)

The "Joker" offers a very deep insight into the chaotic mind of one of the most famous comic book villains of all-time.While the cartoon & later movies portray Joker as a lunatic who just enjoys causing agony to Batman,this movie is about a very different Joker.Right from the first scene there is something off about him.We soon find that he is lonely,disturbed & pretty much rejected by society.Arthur also suffers from some mental condition and the first half makes it quiet clear that he has a very poor understanding of people.Most notably when he laughs at the "non funny" moments of an act while he has no idea about the "punch line" when the rest of the public is laughing.Arthur has had nothing good happen to him in his life.The way he thinks & the way he functions is so different from anyone else that he's called a "freak".His only solace in this world is his mother who lives with him and loves him dearly.Arthur in turn is a good son who takes good care of his mom.All this takes place in an angry Gotham city.The general public feels cheated & rejected by the elites of the society.The class divide has taken a violent turn and things escalate when an elite decides to run for mayor.The protests soon turn into an all-out rebellion against the "system".However,the way the movie is edited things are not so straightforward.The edits happen at weird times to the point that the following scene has very little connection to anything else in the previous scene.Is this just Arthur imagining stuff? Has he even become the Joker or is he locked up in an asylum living a parallel delusive life? Or is this him reminiscing about Batman's childhood? Todd Phillips manages to make a cohesive movie while leaving us with these questions.
"Joker" borrows whole-heartedly from "Taxi Driver" & even "King of Comedy".The parallels are just too obvious.However,the movie is far less violent than "Taxi Driver"(a 4 decade old movie!) Thus,it was baffling to me that it was so hysterically lambasted by critics for "glorifying violence" & what not.There is no such high volume gore or bloodshed here and I doubt anyone is going to go out & start killing people after seeing "Joker".