Joker is a profound character study, which intends to touch deep wounds of society that fit into the intrinsic political and behavioral issues of humanity

Rating: 10/10 (9 May 2020)

There are few films that can be considered a masterpiece of seventh art, which have a set of characteristics and qualities that take them to other levels. This new rereading of one of the most complex and controversial characters in cinema enters this gallery for being able to innovate in language and content. The fact that the Joker is a character from DC Comics' comics is a mere detail that, were it not for the character's characteristic clothes and makeup. It is a profound character study, which intends to touch deep wounds of society that fit into the intrinsic political and behavioral issues of humanity.
One of the first big surprises when we first heard about the film was the director. Until then known for good comedies, especially for the 'Drink, Don't Marry' franchise, Todd Phillips is responsible for the script alongside Scott Silver (The Winner, Decisive Hours) and the duo decided to take that deep dive into the psyche of one of greatest villains in history, presenting us with their lives, fears, afflictions and, especially, their motivations. Much more than being a film of the origin of a villain, the work aims to show a human being and his rise as a symbol in a decadent society. Knowing that the entire film would be sustained from the protagonist's performance, Phillips knew that for that he would need an actor who could embody this whole developmental arc and wrote the character with Joaquin Phoenix in mind to play it. After an initial refusal and much insistence, the actor was convinced by Phillips to bring the iconic character back to life through a new perspective on his origins.
In Joker, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) works as a clown for a talent agency and, every week, he needs to go to a social worker, due to his known mental problems. After being fired, Fleck reacts badly to the mockery of three men on the subway and kills them. The murders start a popular movement against the elite of Gotham City, of which Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) is its greatest representative.
To speak of 'Joker' is to speak of exquisite direction and impressive performance. Phillips and Silver's script is a millimeter drama that gradually builds the character in the public eye, making us understand his motivations. Joaquin Phoenix, who is known for the immersion he performs for his characters, is in virtually every scene in the film and dominates the screen impressively. The construction of the actor had to lose about 23 kilos for the character, in order to pass all the physical fragility, in addition to the mental character of the character. Phoenix also studied different personality disorders and practiced the characteristic Joker laugh over and over until he reached the desired result.
The first half hour of the film shows Arthur Fleck as a person with mental disorders, who suffers from anxiety, and is forced to go to a social worker due to his problems. Due to these disturbances, he laughs wildly not compatible with the feeling. The curious thing is how, throughout the film, the variation of laughter is used for the most diverse situations. To make matters worse, Arthur still loses his job unfairly, which further shakes him. Many consider him strange, which does not let him have real friends. Fleck is portrayed as invisible in society. People do not stop in the street to watch his antics, some attack him out of pure malice. Phoenix, at the beginning of the film, walks slowly, hunched over, practically dragging himself to reinforce the feeling of defeat before life. The only one who supports and gives him affection is his sick mother, whom Arthur takes care of with all the affection. His mother always told him that he was born to bring joy and laughter to the world, and that is exactly what he also believed in all his life.
From the murder of three men who provoked and assaulted him on the subway, we can see the turn in Arthur's life. By committing the act in a brutal way and not feeling remorse, he starts to gain confidence, his posture is erect, he takes on the face of the clown to commit other murders as his thirst for revenge against those who hurt him somehow, even against the closest people. Little by little, facts about Arthur's childhood are revealed, how he was adopted and suffered various types of physical and psychological violence from his mother's boyfriends, who did not protect him from his stepfather's aggression. Arthur is frighteningly transforming himself from a person no one noticed, to become a symbol of an uprising against Gotham's richest and most powerful. As the character himself quotes at one point, his life went from total tragedy to absolute comedy.
Phillips sets his film at a time, the turn of the 1970s to the 1980s, and builds on the cinema of that time. The film empathizes with the character of Arthur Flecker, and makes us sensitive to his plight. But the ailments suffered by the character do not ultimately refer to the social order, but to the family environment (especially from the moment when the madness of the mother and the abuse of the stepfather are revealed). Production designer Mark Friedberg and art director Laura Ballinger do not set the film in an imaginary city with imprecise temporality. On the contrary, the Gotham City that we see on the screen is evidently New York in the early 1980s. The choice is not accidental: it is the historic moment of the rise of neoliberalism. Moment of state bankruptcy and cut in public services - such as the psychiatric care service that Flecker benefited from - and the political projection of figures from the business world - such as Thomas Wayne, who proposes to save the city by running for mayor. The result is a dirty, brave and transgressive film, as consistent with the essence of its title character as with the idea of a chaotic, decadent and without any rules Gotham City.
The script has several inspirations, such as the classic 'The King of Comedy' and 'Taxi Driver' (by Martin Scorsese). Arthur Fleck and Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro in the Scorsese film) are men who are mistreated by the environment and socially marginalized. However, the arc of the comics 'A Piada Mortal', which is the biggest source of references of all in this feature. This mix of references has one objective: to criticize society. The film is an increasingly visceral and profound journey in a universe where madness meets cruelty. It is not a narrative about a failure with a gun, seeking violence to find its place in the world. The escalation of violence is not shown by the lack of empathy or the failure of its protagonist. In fact, it's just the opposite, with Joker making the viewer feel disgusted enough to not have the slightest empathy for the character. A joker is not someone to be inspired or glorified, on the contrary, the character is the refuse of a society that destroys everything and everyone. This interpretation is also the opposite of what was led by Heath Ledger in another brilliant interpretation of the villain. It is much, much worse, capable of causing disturbance. If the Ledger Joker was an anarchist, the Phoenix Joker is disturbed, traumatized and ill.
Todd Phillips also manipulates the narrative in such a way that the wildness of the Joker, or rather, of Arthur Fleck, is not only justified but, at first, almost forgivable. From a thorough character study, we followed from Arthur's still innocence to becoming a tougher and more confident man, in all the stages of a transformation resulting much more from society's vices than from his failures. Todd Phillips' direction is precise. He knows how to portray the decadent and violent Gotham City in a raw and visceral way. Phillips uses several plans from the bottom up to emphasize the superiority of the slight Joker to those who see him, as well as using and abusing close-ups and every minute bodily movement of Phoenix's interpretation. Also interesting is the staircase symbol used in the director's script, which idealizes the staircases as dramatic figures of rise and fall: if at a moment Arthur commits his first murders and, shortly after, he runs away climbing one of these stairs, it is in his discovery - in his self-disclosure - like who he is (or who he was transformed in) that he finally descends triumphantly. Coupled with the dark photography by Lawrence Sher, the precise editing by Jeff Groth and especially the soundtrack by the Icelandic Hildur GuÃ°nadÃ³ttir, which creates an impressively disturbing melancholy atmosphere, the construction of this Gotham City and these characters that inhabit it is even more believable and real.
Without any previous reference, it is an original story that reinvents basic characteristics of the character, without ever actually modifying him or citing any of his predecessors. At the same time, it appropriates the collective memory in relation to the previous versions, not exactly in the sense of comparing them, but of knowing in advance what the character is sick and violent. The film deals with the lack of love, childhood trauma and lack of compassion in the world. Joker is a raw and visceral demonstration of the perverse, which shows a man with psychological problems, with a ruined family life and who is despised and ignored by co-workers and society in general.
The biggest problem presented by him is not the idea of a maniac being praised for his violent acts, but the fact that we are part of a society so sick and sunk in mud that the maniac ends up being glorified precisely for being who he is. When, close to the end, the Joker finally finds himself idolized by a crowd, there is an awareness of an artist there who has finally found his place in the world. And an artist who receives recognition is hardly deviated to another path. A mesmerizing work that uses violence to show the scorn of the current world. The feature comes to impact and make the audience reflect on society and on their own attitudes towards others.