'JOKER' is a mental illness study wrapped up in arthouse execution.

Rating: 10/10 (4 October 2019)

As a filmmaker is it ok to be inspired by other films? Absolutely, It happens all the time.
What if as a director your homage to particular movies is very obvious? As long as he makes it his own stylistically, it's all forgiven.
"Good artist borrow, Great artist steal" quote comes to mind.
Whenever you have whole scenes basically copied from previous movies, thats when more mature audience might feel bit cheated because they associate them with movies from the past. However if you find way of original delivery of these ideas you might struck an emotional gold with the audiences as it happened in this case.
The first thing you notice as Todd Phillips's 'JOKER' begins is its 1.85 : 1 aspect ratio, different then the CinemaScope
2.35 : 1 standard widescreen ratio which often is being used on big franchise superhero films, that gives the movie more cinematic feel. This choice alone signalises to the audience that they are watching a superhero movie unlike any other which came before it. One that is stylistically tilted towards Arthouse cinema narrating style, instead of typical standard CGI big budget blockbuster.
'JOKER' is a story of the origin, told as a character study with everything in it screams quality.
In essence it is a film of two half's.
First half of the film is based on character development which is drama based, where we are getting to know our protagonist/anti-hero. The second half of the film turns to a thriller when Arthur Fleck titled JOKER, decides to take his revenge on the people who mistreated him in the past. Its very easy to see parallels between JOKER and other movies like 'Taxi driver' (1976) and 'The King of Comedy' (1982) directed by Martin Scorsese.
Deliberate choice of casting Robert DeNiro as Murray Franklin a chat show host Artur looks up to is for mature audience clear bow towards both Scorsese movies I mentioned. Todd Phillips is very transparent with that, perhaps too transparent. Once again, its ok to pay homage to films from the past, however when you are trying to copy the whole scenes, you need to make sure that your interpretation will be original enough which 'JOKER' does very well indeed.
'JOKER' is very well directed, there is a clarity of what Todd Phillips is trying to communicate to the audience and he is doing it in a very subtle way.
There is a one scene in 'JOKER' which brilliantly showcases the disconnect of Artur from the normal society when he goes to the comedy club to tries to see what jokes get biggest laughs. However being socially inept the timing when he laughs is totally different than other members of the audience. They laugh on punchlines but he seems to be laughing in random moments, showing clear disconnect from collective subconscious part of the society, making him stand out. Simple choice that communicates to the viewer of the movie so much about the loneliness, separation and longing for human connection which Artur feels.
Beautifully lensed by Lawrence Sher with a great slow motion sequences, which gives 'JOKER' grand feature film vibe, but also handheld shots, which with movement of the actor create artistic ballet like sequences when Artur is walking or dancing, putting the audience in a dream like state.
However this film would not be what it is without brilliant character study of Joaquin Phoenix!
His performance is definitely up there with Heath Ledger Oscar winning creation of Joker character in Christopher Nolan's 'THE DARK KNIGHT'.
Performance of Joaquin Phoenix as Artur the clown/standup comic who becomes Joker will surely get him nomination for an Oscar.
Phoenix's performance seems to be little bit more subtle and internal. For this role Joaquin lost over 20KG to inhabit the character physically and developed characteristic laugh that comes out of pain in characters emotional core. The interesting part is that after we witness Artur's misfortunes we start to identify with his struggle because we understand that his mental illness comes from disturbing childhood and years of abuse. His ability to twist his thin body in weird positions reminded me Christian Bale performance in 'The Machinist'(2004) another movie about paranoid delusions.
Joaquins performance of Joker reminds us how weirdly talented he is with acting choices that are very original and emotionally engaging.
On top of everything Todd Phillips in 'JOKER' seems to showcase clash of two worlds.
The world of super rich and those who are poor, who often deal with mental and emotional problems. Even Gotham City is stylized to look like modern day San Francisco to give that incentive.
This film does not promote violence but in a way justifies it. Artur from a victim becomes a hero to many, because he decides to stand up for himself and use image of the Joker as a catalyst for this change and in that way he becomes symbol of revolutionary change for those who are less privileged.
But most importantly 'JOKER' as a movie is a mental illness study intertwine in social and economical satire that brings questions about the discrepancy between super rich and poor people in American society today.
I will most definitely see 'JOKER' again to have further assessment, but after the first viewing I am pretty sure next March we will see some Oscars coming its way.
Highly recommended!
********** out of 10 stars.