Phenomenal acting. Joachim Phoenix can make even Gotham feel sad

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2019)

I don't think it is a coincidence that Robert de Niro was an actor in this movie. Joker plays more like Taxi Driver than any movie I've seen. The same slow descent into madness for a disillusioned and ignored man at the edge of society.
I didn't find the film political at all. Because what Phoenix did I felt for his character at a visceral level, beyond good, evil and morality. The entire movie is a joke that only some people get it. The incel thing, for example, was hilarious in retrospect: frightened first worlders trying to instantly put a label on the people that they feared most and needed support more. The exact same reaction as portrayed in the film. The story in this is very personal, in a social context that becomes a constant buzz that fades in the background.
If there is any word that could describe Joker is uncomfortable. It's two hours of feeling the suffering of the main character, even as he breaks and does unconscionable things. You can't not root for him. You can't condone it. You can't not be sad. And in the end, when I was thinking this is a great movie but has nothing to do with the DC comics, it ties in the Batman classic storyline with such ease that I couldn't help shivering thinking on what Batman's story would be in this universe of burning sadness.
Bottom line: great acting and really fresh ideas that work together perfectly. It's a very adult film, though, and not for everybody.