Joaquin Phoenix, take a bow

Rating: 10/10 (25 October 2019)

There isn't much else to say; Joker is one of the most absorbing, powerful films ever made. The cinematography is remarkable and the score is just perfectly potent and understated. This is not a thrill-a-minute movie designed to keep you entertained throughout. It is a heavy, all-consuming character study that invites you, with reluctance and fascination, into the mind of a severely disturbed outcast. I don't remember any movie leaving me feeling so emotionally disoriented as I left the cinema.
The performance by Joaquin Phoenix is something very special indeed. We spend nearly the full two hours just watching him close up and every second is exhilarating. Rarely, if ever, has a character been so utterly captivating, so desperate and so tragic. His physical acting, from writhing in anguish to dancing with warped delight, is utterly mesmerising. And not once did he ever lay it on too thick. To portray that level of pain and fury without indulging in excess morbidity or melodrama is quite an achievement.
Forget where this masterpiece fits into the world of DC comics and Batman movies; Joker is a stand-alone film that deservedly takes its place amongst the greats.