The Clown Prince of Comedy

Rating: 8/10 (10 October 2019)

When Warner Bros first tried to make their DCEU it got off to a rocky start with some of their films struggling to find their own voice. Mostly since a lot of what they were doing was just trying to copy Marvel, ranging from an attempt at their own Guardians of the Galaxy with Suicide Squad or hiring Avengers scribe Joss Whedon to finish filming of the Justice League. But finally it seems DC has found its footing by focusing less on an extended universe and more on just making good standalone movies with tones playing to the strengths of their characters. We saw it earlier this year with the wholesomely hilarious Shazam and we're definitely seeing it here with a film that completely upends all of our expectations for the comic book genre through Joker, a character drama which completely reinvents of DC's most iconic villains.
Taking place in a 70s version of Gotham (albeit a version of Gotham which looks strikingly similar to a 70s New York) the film follows Arthur Flecks descent into becoming the Joker. When we first meet him he's already in a bad position. He's stuck in a dead end job as a part time clown, caring for his frail mother in a rundown apartment, he's taking seven different drugs to deal with his depression and keeps bursting into uncontrollable fits of laughter to the point where he's in physical pain. Basically he's just one bad day from complete lunacy and it seems that life is constantly beating him down to give him that one last push over the edge.
Even the few lifelines that Arthur does have to his sanity seem to be brutally slashed over the course of the film, with many actions completely outside of Arthur's control such as cuts to social care further isolating him from society. Bus riders treat him with disdain, kids beat him down in the street and we even get an interesting portrayal of Thomas Wayne, who we're so used to seeing from Bruce's idolised perspective that it's a strange turnaround to see him as the snobby rich guy completely detached from the real problems faced by society. Though the way that almost every character in the city is completely unsympathetic is arguably done to a fault, as many characters in the film do end up being one dimensional characters with the sole goal of furthering Arthur's descent.
Though in showing us Arthurs transformation in to the Joker, Joaquin Phoenix delivers one of the greatest performances of the year so far. The Joker has so many great portrayals, ranging from the pure chaos of Heath Ledger to the comically homicidal showmanship of Mark Hamil, but Phoenix has still found his own way to leave a mark on the character by layering him with a sense of tragedy as we see the pain that goes towards creating a maniac. It's one of those incredible performances where the transformation is so fluid, but so monumental that we go from sympathising with a man beaten down by a cruel system to terrified at a madman capable of tearing a city down.
There are so many small touches that really stood out to me like Joaquin's slow transformation from self hatred in to turning his anger on to those around him and that laugh which constantly sounds as if he's about to burst in to tears. Though the part of his performance that struck me the most was the extreme weight loss Joaquin underwent to portray the Joker. Beyond giving us an interesting insight in to his self-harming nature at the start of the film, there's a level of visual discomfort whenever he's on screen in a similar way to Chritian Bale in The Machinist.
Beyond seeing his unnaturally frail boney structure, Joaquin said that the extreme weight loss gave him a sense of fluidity throughout the film which really showed throughout the film as Phoenix always appeared to move with such an unnatural liveliness. Some of the films most striking moments are some dancing sequences scattered throughout the film where the Jokers homicidal nature starts to peak out with as his rhythm begins to match up with the films haunting score.
It's somewhat ironic that the film received so many criticisms for its sympathetic portrayal of a psychopath given that the same criticisms were previously thrown at the films like Fight Club and Taxi Driver that influenced it. It does seem that this film was placed on a higher pedestal due to its use of the Joker for mainstream appeal, especially when you consider how other recent films from Phoenix such as You Were Never Really Here which arguably portrays violence to killers in a far more disturbing light without receiving the same kinds of criticism. Regardless, it's important to realise that at no point does this film ever glorify violence. And the film does get us to empathise with the pain that Arthur goes through during the film, however it never condones his actions.
A lot of credit needs to go to Warner Bros for being willing to provide such free roam to create such a chilling vision of one of their most valuable characters. And even more credit needs to go to Todd Phillips himself, who spent a year campaigning to get his r-rated character study off the ground at a time when action spectacles dominate the screens. Whilst he does cover similar ground to the Scorsese films that inspired him, this isn't just a carbon copy and he really brought a unique vision to the Joker. I just hope that following this films success, Warner Bros continues to experiment with the rest of DC's pantheon .