One of the best movies of the year

Rating: 10/10 (9 November 2019)

I saw this movie twice. Each time I left the theater with my stomach sore from clenching my muscles in anxiety over the main character's descent into madness. Joaquin Phoenix gives a chillingly compelling performance (think "My Left Foot" with Daniel Day Lewis) as a man who has "not been happy one day of his life" , yet has largely been a gentle outcast living in a cruel, violent world exploited by capitalist greed and corruption. The tie-in with the DC character Batman is cleverly revealed to be far more obtuse than earlier stories have made it, blaming the Joker for the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents. In this story, the Joker is turned into a murderer, but not THAT murderer.
This is a film I will own on DVD when it is released in January. But do see it on the large screen if you can.