Long, detailed spiral into madness

Rating: Null/10 (18 November 2019)

Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix in the titular role, is the origin story of the infamous Batman arch nemesis , taking place in Gotham in the 80s. Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) is a man deep into mental health issues. He suffers from uncontrollable bouts of laughter, has deep-rooted self-confidence issues and is currently living in a city just on the brink of disaster. Not helping the matters is his situation as a life-in caretaker for his demented mother, and his dead-end job as a clown-for-hire. And then he gets that little push, to quote another Batman movie.
What Joker is, beneath all the layers, is a never-ending spiral into insanity, madness and ruin. Whenever you think that there's a ray of hope, of sunshine, the movie pulls the rug underneath your feet. Whenever you start to feel any sympathy for Arthur, he does something heinous or ups the ante. Whenever you think you have found someone to root for in this film, they reveal an ugly side to their persona.
And yet the movie has levity to it. As befitting the character. It's a horrible, depressing film, but it does get a chuckle out of you. Which makes everything that follows even more depressing. Which is the Joker, in a nutshell.
Furthermore, it's absolutely gorgeously filmed, the dialogues are great, the characters have real bite to them, the 80s Gotham is fantastically realized and it's just topnotch film making all around.
If I had to nitpick, I would say that the film didn't necessarily need the inclusion of Bruce Wayne into it. It doesn't ruin the narrative, but it also felt just a bit tacked on, truth be told. Still, a minor gripe at best.
Very good film. Nolan's The Dark Knight is still a better Batman film, as far as I'm concerned, but this film is a contender.