Send in the clowns!

Rating: 10/10 (15 October 2019)

Todd Phillip's team has created an instant classic. With slick direction and an intricate script we join Joaquin Phoenix in the birthing process that is Joker. I say birthing process because that is exactly what it is, for both the protagonist and the viewer. It is excruciatingly painful and necessary to endure. Cues of the steady beat from a galley drummer throughout the film remind us we are trapped on this ship and there is no getting off as it bravely tackles mental health issues. Viewers can not escape the uncomfortableness felt when observing the uncontrollable ticks, social awkwardness and misery portrayed by Phoenix as Arthur Fleck. It is no wonder to me why for some this film wasn't the escape THEY needed and therefore left the cinema. Arthur's mental health issues are further compounded by living in Gotham; a city where the rubbish and crime is piling up, social welfare is being cut back and the elites entertain themselves with little to no interest in the poor. Fleck is scraping by as a performing clown and struggling stand-up comedian. Society is literally and figuratively beating him down. Once the state cuts his medication his spiral was imminent. Broken and scared he arms himself and starts fighting back. Staying with the DC universe we follow Fleck's motives and have a glimpse at a world of absent fathers, inadequate mothers and an uncaring government. The two hour allocation for character development is perfect, chopping time off from the beginning would only damage the end result. The addressing of mental health in such a bold manner should be applauded. Todd Phillips is forcing the audience to LOOK at the world, look at what is going on beyond the glitz and glamor of television and feel the seedy undertones of the entertainment we consume.
It is said that comic books have always reflected the time and place they were created, the success of Joker is no doubt due to its parallels with today's world, an ominous harbinger for perils to come. Poverty, mental health and uncaring elites are the melting pot for civil unrest. While Arthur Fleck is spiralling down, conversely the Joker is rising. He doesn't stumble or shy away, he dances in the chaos.
Who is really broken?
If you didn't like this film, maybe you just didn't get the joke.