"Joker": A Cinematic Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (7 October 2019)

"JOKER" Non-Spoiler Movie Review
"Joker", starring Joaquin Phoenix is the story about Arthur Fleck, a common everyday citizen of Gotham who struggles day in and day out to get through a tumultuous life in a society that mistreats, ridicules, and misunderstands him partially due to their ignorance of a disorder he has that causes him to laugh hysterically and uncontrollably whenever he is anxious about something. Arthur lives with his mother, Penny Fleck who he is the caretaker of. He tries to make ends meet as a clown performer and aspires to be a famous comedian someday. But as he begins to experience more and more abuse, mistreatment, and closed doors of opportunity in his life, Arthur slowly starts to find himself loosing his sanity and is further traumatized by various people, particularly the wealthy and powerful. After he is involved in an incident that catches the attention of Thomas Wayne, Bruce Wayne's father vows to rid Gotham of all of its so-called "clowns" and save the city by running for Mayor. The incident itself and reaction by Bruce's father starts an uprising of protesters who begin to wear makeup and clown masks in support of Arthur. But after he is forced to stop taking his medications and ultimately reaches his point of no return, Arthur embraces his new personality and persona and subsequently becomes Joker.
I saw this movie after hearing all of its hype and negative responses to it and after seeing it, I think it's a masterpiece of a film. From the opening scene until it's controversial ending, this movie captivated me to the core. It introduces Arthur as a good person at heart, yet who makes rash decisions and commits horrible acts in reaction to his warped state of mind. This film actually made me sympathize with Arthur's plight as it shows in vivid detail how he suffers with depression, psychological trauma, misplaced feelings, anger, and his visible display of physical pain due to his laughing disorder. It is truly a tragic story of a good hearted person who falls terribly from grace. I totally agree that Joaquin Phoenix deserves an Oscar for his performance as well as his supporting cast who are all deserving of awards and recognition of their moving performances. Joker is also a film that has certain moments in it that displays what could be seen as an artistic performance or poetry in motion. When it comes to the violence in the film, I didn't find it to be that difficult to watch partially because I've seen far more graphic scenes of violence, but I can see why it could be considered disturbingly violent because the violence looks so shockingly real and is shot without the interruption of camera cuts or distracting camera angles. As a whole, "Joker" is very well made film that should be seen with an open mind, not expecting it to be the typical "superhero/villain" movie. It is a dark, brooding, emotional, funny, thought provoking, disturbing, yet intriguingly powerful execution of filmmaking.