Brilliantly Crafted

Rating: 10/10 (2 March 2020)

Since his chair as part of the official competition of the Venice Festival about a month and a half ago, "Joker" has become one of the most controversial, explosive and disputed films of the past decade. On the one hand, he came out of the festival with the Golden Lion and broke a glass ceiling for commercial products based on comic books, defined as a masterpiece by the European critics, and broke the United States in the last weekend. On the other hand, the American media pressed every name for a possible notoriety in the era of political health, director Todd Phillips became the social-boxing bag of societal networks, families of gunshot victims sought to scrap it and security was introduced to some of the halls in which it is screened. At the end of the last weekend, the film immigrated to Israel, and we could also see what the fuss was about.
Let's start with the only simple sentence you can say about the film: he describes the events that we know of the Batman, but this time from the jazz point of view, and tries to explain how the personality of one of the most famous arvillains in the popular culture has been played by Joaquin Phoenix, who went into the big shoes of Jack Nicholson, Heath and others who have done this before.
From here on, it gets complicated. It is easier to say what "joker" does not approve what he is. This is a sign that is hung this week in one of the New York cinemas, as part of the overall confusion of the country following the rise of the hit--"attention, please, it is not a comic film in the usual sense of the word, as you are."
Indeed, "Joker " is really not a natural continuation of other successful arrangements for comic books from the last time. Not to Marvel's, and certainly not to those of the DC, whose legacy is based, although it has clear references to previous "Batman" movies. If we still have to say why this strange chicken is similar, it is a combination of psychological drama, a dark thriller, and a social satire. It is evident that its contents and style derive inspiration from the "Taxi Driver" and "the King of Comedy", two of the modern classics that Martin Scorsese created between the late seventies and the early 1980s, a fine and wild time in American cinema, which generally affects the film. Even the scene of his occurrence, the fictitious city of Gutheam at a vague point of time, mentions the cinematic representations of New York in those days, while there was still Sodom and Gomorrah of America.
And what about the man who becomes a gentleman? He suffers from a mental injury, which leads him to tell terrible jokes without being aware of it, and to burst into uncontrollable laughter, which makes him resemble some sort of Hollywood version of Assaf Ashtar at Comedy Store. His livelihood comes from his work as a clown, but even though he wants to make others happy, his hand is perceived as despicable, and brings back humiliation: Already in the first scene, a bunch of youngsters hit him on the street, and at a later stage, Thomas Wayne calls in contempt of "clowns" and all those lowlife living in his eyes that are not as wealthy as he is. This statement echoes of course the similar emissions that were made by Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton during their presidential campaigns against groups in the population, and strengthening the film's topical dimension.
If it is not enough for the hero's troubles, the capitalist elite's policy is leading to cuts in the welfare services and therefore also to the termination of the necessary treatments and the disease. And yet he has more hope: his mother terrorist planted him the faith that came to the world to bring them all a smile on his face, and that he would come out with something big. The open stage of a stand-up comedy club allows it to begin to realize this dream, and from there to bear eyes for the truly great fantasy--a performance in the program of his favorite light-Knight, Robert De Niro, that lihuku here is a wink to the "King of comedy", where they played the opposite role of an obsessive admirer of famous comedian (the same Played at the time of Jerry Lewis).
All this makes "joker" a smart, complex and relevant film that will be taught at universities and not only in the Department of film, but also mainly in social sciences. In the American media, audits were published that had been enjoyed by the arrogance that it was a foolish piece that was unaware of its meaning. The truth is reversed: there is not a moment here that is not on the banks of irony. If anything, the problem is that the result is so self-conscious that it already has something smug and more pressing.
In the end, the virtues cover up the disadvantages, which is the result that improves as it progresses, and the second part is powerful and even exemplary.
Behind this artistic success are some factors, other than the quality of the script we have already spoken about. First and foremost, the "Joaquin Phoenix" game, which officially establishes its status in the pantheon of the greatest, not only in his generation, but at all times. It is hard to think about many other players who were able to play such an extreme character without any phony character, and in a way that would make such a big impression. He is present in the film in almost every moment, carries him on his shoulders with dedication and a total determination, and builds a resting portrait.
On the side of Phoenix, though in a much smaller position, Robert De Niro reminds anyone who forgot what a big player he is. The two of these are the directors of the director Todd Phillips, who are not only in casting and guided by actors but also in all that is related to the scene, creating an atmosphere, placing a camera, editing, combining images into music and so on. Everything here is calculated, meticulous and effective, in everything concerning the picture and everything about sound. So, for example, once in a while we hear the movement of trains above the heads of the characters, which plays a double role: also creates a realistic sense of urban life, and also serves as a metaphor for a storm that is in the consciousness of the hero.
The film depicts a terrible reality: violent, popustic, passionate, hateful and almost merciless. What to do is the world we live in. "Joker " does not justify him, but just tries to understand how he was created, and how can I treat decay if you don't understand what his roots are? To me, this film is one of the five best movies I've ever seen, and I'm taking my hat off to anyone who's involved in his work.