Solid, emotional, memorable film

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2020)

This movie left me with a "good" sadness. Joaquin's incredible acting tells the story of a very unfortunate man with several mental disorders being abused and unnoticed by society. The beginning of the movie is establishing Arthur's character and made me feel uncomfortable, made me cringe, and made me immediately pity him. The film does not have a slow middle section which begins after Arthur kills the three men on the subway. From there the film gets very exciting as the killing gives Arthur a new breath of air. At least it seems to (in reality things are only being made worse for him). He begins to develop his true Joker personality by killing his mother for lying to him about his upbringing (being the cause of his mental disorders) and later devises a plan to kill himself on live TV. Before going to the show he also brutally murders an ex-coworker who gave him a gun which began all his recent problems. On the television show he decides to instead kill the host after being constantly mocked. This leads to his arrest and the final scene shows Arthur talking with a psychiatric nurse in Arkam Asylum.
Some say, going off the final scene, that the entire plot takes place within his head. I don't see it that way. I believe all the events shown were real and him being in the asylum was were he ended up after his crimes were judged as insanity being the cause of his murders. If the story was all in his head I think that would just be lame and everything would have just been pointless.
Knowing that this was just a standalone film made all the parts of the Wayne family seem out of place to me. I don't like how much was focused on them and a lot of it took me away from the main points of the movie. I know the Bruce Wayne is an essential part of any Joker story but I wish they were just a brief mention. I don't think this film would be as interesting, however, if it was about some ordinary guy. We have Taxi Driver for that. This being about THE Joker makes the impact special because we all already have a familiar understanding of the character.
Other than plot and acting being great, the film also looks and sounds very beautiful. The colors are a nice choice, the film is full of beautiful and memorable shots (stair dancing) and the music is very minimalist but impactful.
This film left me thinking of my own mental health and the mental health of others and how much they all probably need a good hug.