A short review

Rating: 10/10 (6 October 2019)

In filim Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is standing in a decrepit elevator with his neighbour Sophie (Zazie Beetz) and her daughter. The lights are flickering, and the lift almost comes to a halt. In irritation, Sophie mentions that the building is beyond repair. She does the iconic finger-gun to the head, to show how hopeless the situation is. Arthur smiles.
The elevator begins to work again and they reach the required floor. Just before he reaches his door, Arthur returns the gesture. They part ways. She smiles understandingly.
There's nothing more to that scene. But it's uncomfortable. It makes you squirm, and you don't know why. But apart from the fraying mindset, it's a dark indication of the events that will follow in the film.
Joker, directed by Todd Phillips, is the origin story of one of the most baffling and iconic DC villains. Through the decades, the character has been given numerous flourishes, and each actor has brought something new to the villain. We've seen Cesar Romero's playful prankster, Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989) and no one can forget Heath Ledger's dark and sadistic portrayal of the Joker. Ledger's characterisation of the Joker in Dark Knight set a benchmark, which, it was believed, no one could touch. After the forgettable performance of Jared Leto in Suicide Squad, Phoenix brings the Joker to life again in a terrifying, haunting and unsettling performance.
It is the 1980s. There is an ongoing class war in the city of Gotham. The privileged like Thomas Wayne make paltry statements about poverty, while the ones pushed to the periphery of society like Arthur Fleck and his ailing mother Penny remain invisible. Arthur tries to earn a living for himself as a clown, but is ridiculed and beaten up. In short, he is at the hands of a system that cannot, or rather refuses to see him. And slowly, the thin mask of sanity that he struggles to hold to the world, slips throughout the film. A family secret hastens his descent into madness. The lines between real and hallucinations become blurred. It leads to a powerful climax, with an ending that rivals a black satirical comedy.
Philips has received strong backlash for making a film about inciting violence in 2019, a year when there have been more than 300 mass shootings in US itself. It was said to be the typical whitewashed story of a lone wolf resorting to mass murder, because he was shunned by society. When posed with the question about inciting violence, Phoenixhimself had left an interview as he later said that "he had not thought about that".
But is the answer so black and white? The Joker while attempting to humanise the antagonist in the beginning, doesn't glorify him. The twinge of empathy and sympathy dissolves through the film, and there is a sense of fear of the monster Arthur devolves into. The film also seems to be a strange warning of the dangers of unchecked mental illness and the effects it can have on an individual's moral, physical and emotional make-up.
The Joker is a one-man show, with extended cameos by Robert De Niro and Zazie Beetz. Phoenix is hypnotic and astonishing with his performance, which definitely does merit an Oscar. His eyes haunt you. They show his struggle with his inner demons. It's not often that you find an actor who can give you gooseflesh with every movement that is considered joyful, like dancing or just laughing. Phoenix pulls some demonic dance moves down a stairway; the same stairway where he had once walked alone and miserable.
His laughs as the Joker are anything but funny, and there are a variety of them. There's the high-pitched cackle, and there's the hoarse guffaw which hides the sobs. His laugh has no joy in it. It just shows how dead he is on the inside.
The film has its fair share of flaws of course, and there are some scenes forced into the film. Thomas Wayne's speech on poverty; another one where Arthur meets a young Bruce Wayne, which might confuse the timelines for a few, are among the problematic parts of Joker. The rich and elite have no greys in their personality, to the extent that some dialogues get repetitive.
The Joker is a deeply unsettling social commentary on a ravaging class divide, as well as a warning sign for mental illness. It is not for everyone. But it will definitely bring about a lot of conversation.