Joker = A Masterpiece

Rating: 10/10 (13 October 2019)

If you haven't known already, this is an in-depth review of the 2019 movie Joker and it will contain a lot of spoilers. I strongly recommend you to check the movie out before reading this because it really is a masterpiece, and you should respect it by watching it in the theatres. I personally give this movie a full score as it really exceeded my expectations on all aspects of the movie. However, I understand that this movie is not for everyone. If you're more likely to watch action movies, then I don't think this movie will suit you. Here are a few criterias that I would like to talk about which made this movie an overall dark, disturbing and mesmerising masterpiece.
First of all, let's talk about the cinematography and the score of this movie. It undoubtedly uses a bluish constrast to create this sort of a cold and chaotic city feeling in the early 80s or 90s, much like the movie "A Clockwork Orange". In my opinion, this is brilliant as it sets the mood for the movie that we're about to experience and the surrounding condition for a story that revolves around a man (Arthur Fleck) and his drastic descend into insanity, caused by the broken society. As this movie symbolises Arthur's depression, it is important to let the audience know and feel what it's like to be him, and how he view the outside world. The score in this movie is extremely phenomenal. I don't think this movie will give out such a big impact on me if this score wasn't there. What really surprises me is that you can actually feel Arthur's depression through the score, like it's secretly giving out information to you. The score gave the sort of impression where Arthur is a sad, depressed and miserable person inside a clown's body. Finally, I also think that the score serves as a signal which makes the audience feel like they are the joker. For instance, the audience is so used to hearing this music when something bad happens to Arthur that they will attach this music to a bad occurrence. As a result, supposedly a mentally-ill person is very unpredictable in some ways will be predictable now as the audience recognise the score even when something positive is happening. They kind of know when Arthur will finally snap.
Secondly, let's dive into the story itself. As a summary, Arthur fleck is an innocent guy, working as a clown and a standup comedian who is driven crazy by the society. This character is portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix who, in my opinion, is one of the best actors working today. One aspect of the film which I thought is extremely brilliant, is Arthur's laugh. In previous Batman movies, the character Joker laughs all the time because they are psychotic and laughing pleases them in certain ways normal human cannot comprehend. This Joker, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. Arthur has a condition which causes him to laugh uncontrollably due to nerve problems in his brain. This, I have to salute to Todd Philips and Joaquin Phoenix for taking the risk to approach this Joker character in a different way, much different from any Joker films ever made. Every laugh, you can feel Arthur's pain and loneliness. This is very important to create and emotional attach for the audience to Arthur. I personally think that Phoenix can win an Oscar just from that laugh sequences alone. During the first act, we follow Arthur through his daily routines. He works, then he comes home to his mother. every day. This tells the audience that Arthur is still a normal human being and not some psychopath from the very beginning. Then, things get rough and he loses his job for dropping a gun at a children's hospital. There's the subway scene where he was physically attacked by a few Wall Street guys. Due to the immense pressure, he killed all three of them using a gun which was given to him by a colleague of his. Although we are suppose to feel terrified by all this, we feel a sense of victory and satisfaction because that is how Arthur feels after killing them. This is also the scene where the gap between Arthur and the Joker narrows down. There is also this scene where Arthur realised that he was imagining his relationship with a neighbour of his, which was revealed later on in the movie. Although some people think that the reveal of this scene should be at the very end of the movie, I still think that it is perfect where it is. By putting this scene hanging in the middle of the movie, it will cause the audience to not be able to distinguish what's real and what's not. They might be thinking, the past isn't real. But, there are still a few more acts in the movie. Are those still real? I also like the fact that the Murray Franklin Show is very realistic. For example, laughters can be heard when Murray says something that is funny, much like a real talk show. As a result, when Arthur kills Murray at the very end during the talk show, it creates a very disturbing but realistic portrayal of an interview gone wrong. The audience no longer sites Arthur because they are deceived by Arthur's choice and they no longer recognise the man they once sympathised for. The last act is simply extraordinary and I cannot put into words how amazing it is. This is the part I simply don't want to spoil because it is your own choice how the story unfolds. There are no correct or wrong answers to what really happened to Arthur at the end because the audience is the Joker in this sense.
Lastly, i wrote this review in hopes that people take this movie seriously. This is not a superhero flick or any other sort of a trilogy. It's a stand-alone film and a character study of Joker. I sincerely hope that this kind of movies, although violent must be exposed to teenagers that are not the age of 18 as well. It's a very mature film and it can get teenagers nowadays to realise and be prepared for what's ahead of them. Do not fall into the wrong hands. Be wise and know how to manage your stress. If not, you're going to be like Arthur. That's what the movie is trying to say.
That's all. I hope you find this review helpful.