Under cover of comic strip, JOKER examines current US society's madness, violence

Rating: 9/10 (5 October 2019)

Joaquin Phoenix's performance is so magnetic and complete that it will be an injustice if he does not receive an Oscar for JOKER. From his mad laughter, which actually conveys his suffering; to his dancing, which reflects his growing sense of power as he starts to retaliate and kill those he perceives as harmful; to his aloofness, razor-sharp judgement of others' guilt, and brutal admission of his murderous actions, Phoenix is in constant and complete command of the viewer's attention, and his variously clumsy, clever, dry, or downright brutal delivery composes a highly complex and tragic character.
Opening in a social worker's darkly lit and scrappy room, JOKER is a very dark film shot mostly in the low income districts of the city of Gotham which, one recalls from the adventures of Batman, Joker's archenemy, is a cauldron of corruption, violent crime, and dwindling humane values.
Gotham reflects today's US society, caught increasingly in the vice of social discontent with political leadership, rising crime, more and more mass shootings at schools (the incident of the gun that Arthur Fleck drops at a creche is highly symbolic) and other public places, and signs that madness is creeping ever more firmly into a society unravelling at a furious pace.
Thomas Wayne, the father of Bruce Wayne, the future Batman, is running for mayor of Gotham, and he describes the residents/voters/taxpayers as "clowns." His large physique is reminiscent of Donald Trump's and he, too, shows no concern for the deteriorating social situation, and the administration he intends to lead ruthlessly makes social welfare cuts - mirroring actions by the Trump administration.
Director Todd Phillips does well to give JOKER the semblance of a comic while delving deep into the malaise of current times, reflected in Arthur Fleck's steady mental disintegration. Phillips also makes the intelligent decision to deprive the film of humor and, by doing so, to show how humor is not only increasingly a façade behind which humans hide to try to survive, but actually removes honesty from social interaction and raises the potential for deception and all manner of crime.
Fleck's uncontrollable laughter amounts to pointed exaggeration of that social deception, and the use of the Charlie Chaplin-composed song, Smile, is inspired and only heightens the quality of this film's social comment, and reflects the extent of deception and premeditation in social contact in general, and smiling in particular.
Significantly, Fleck walks up to a sign that says "Don't forget to smile," and changes it to "Don't smile."
De Niro plays a small but important part as the TV comedian Murray Franklin, who Fleck initially worships, but who prospers by exploiting the shortcomings, weaknesses, and laughable foibles of others - especially of those in competition with him, like would-be standup comedian Fleck.
JOKER pays homage to films of the 1970s such as FRENCH CONNECTION, NETWORK, TAXI DRIVER, and it cleverly alludes to Chaplin's MODERN TIMES, which contains the original instrumental rendition of the abovementioned song, Smile. Those touches seem to place the action in the 20th century, but the present is very much the film's target.
The only, very brief, ray of hope in JOKER comes from Zazie Beetz, as Sophie, the neighbor who appears to take a shine to Fleck. Is it real, though? We view that relationship from the standpoint of Fleck's unravelling mind, and one moment it seems to contain love and lust, and at another point it seems to derail into the general maelstrom of indifference, fake smiling, and potential violence.
The script is powerful, with the rambling scribblings in Fleck's diary at its core, and in particular one sentence that captures the essence of the amoral and primitive form of capitalism in the USA, and the world at large, today: "I hope my death makes more cents than my life."
JOKER is highly recommended, thought-provoking, but disturbing. 9/10