Brilliant

Rating: 9/10 (10 October 2019)

Joker Review:
Joker takes place in Gotham City, where mentally-troubled comedian Arthur Fleck embarks on a downward-spiral of social revolution and bloody crime. This path brings him face-to-face with his alter-ego. Who wasn't excited for this? I mean the only thing I was most nervous for was the comparison to The Dark Knight. I love that film and I just wanted something not copying Heath Ledger. These are two different films so it's hard to compare and I won't. The one thing I can say is Joker is amazing and so is The Dark Knight. The mixture of a great storyline and riveting performance by Joaquin Phoenix is what makes this film memorable for me at least. Along with great cinematography and a haunting score. The main thing I'd love to talk about is Joaquin Phoenix. Give that man an Oscar! Every time he was on the screen I couldn't look away. He puts his own new style to the character which I love. For example his laugh. He's not copying the classic laugh that everyone knows. There's a new way of incorporating it in where it feels more real and painful to watch, but in a good way. It's definitely the darkest version of the character that we've seen on screen and that's great. It's raw and real. I could feel for him the entire film, which is hard when the main character is a villain. The approach and descent into chaos we see really aids in our attitudes towards him. Some people, if they really don't like dark material at all, may have trouble with it. Like I said the story is dark but it's a good drama. I don't want to consider it a thriller because it feels too real to me. The one thing I think the story needed was a little bit less inspiration from some films like Taxi Driver. It's a good story but it really paralleled to other stories. I just wanted a little bit more originality, not saying it's not entirely though. One of my favorite stories within it was the relationship with Zazie Beetz's character and Joaquin Phoenix. I felt like it was unnecessary and then a twist happens which I just absolutely loved. I don't know why but it just made me love Arthur so much more. The story is accompanied with a haunting score by Hildur Guðnadóttir, who just won an Emmy for another great score for Chernobyl. It wasn't out there and more subtle which made scenes more unnerving sometimes. It slowly would build and be there. This may sound strange and many don't pay attention to this but I really loved the sound design for this. It was one of the main things I noticed throughout and as the story got more chaotic and scenes broke out into disarray it sounded brilliant to me. I can't explain it. One thing with the chaos is that it just reminder me so much of Darren Aronofsky's mother!. It's a very strange film with lots to say and an unpopular opinion: I think mother! is a perfect film. Anyway those whole scenes are anxiety enduring which is good. The cinematography by Lawrence Sher captures everything so well. I could see both the score and cinematography getting nominations the next Academy Awards. I really don't want to spoil anything and leave you to watch it for yourself. I think this is a brilliant film and will someday become a classic.
My Grade: A-