This is something special

Rating: 10/10 (4 October 2019)

This is my first movie review, so this won't be the most polished review, but I'll try my best. I've got to say it again, this is something really special here. Joaquin Phoenix put so much into this performance, physically and mentally. His maniacal laugh even when the character is anxious seems like a very difficult action to balance body language between the laugh and the underlying emotion, and Joaquin walks that line perfectly. The twists this movie takes are slightly expected because of some instances in his life that seem too good to be true, but just the way that they are done is beautiful. They take those somewhat unbelievable circumstances and keep running with it, because Arthur believes it. And because Arthur truly believes it, you learn to accept it until that reality is completely undone and you're shown the true reality of his life. In other words, he's an incredible unreliable narrator for the story, to the point that I'd say he's honestly up there with Fight Club's unreliable narrator. Not only is this a beautiful origin story for Joker, it's an origin story for Gotham as we know it. In a way, this movie perfectly shows how the city is plunged into chaos, and it's all unintentionally thanks to Joker. Or maybe it was intentional. I may just have to go back and rewatch just to pick Arthur's brain more and truly understand how aware he was of what he was creating