Probably Brilliant - But Possibly Not

Rating: 8/10 (8 October 2019)

Advance buzz can make or break a film, but Joker has taken that to extremes. By the time film was released we'd had the advance buzz of a masterpiece, the backlash to the buzz, and the response to the backlash. What we knew ahead of time was this: this was a comic-book world film that was Serious and thought a lot of itself. Not in itself a bad thing - see also, for example, Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. But this was a film that expected to be treated with appropriate seriousness. All of which may have been a bit hard to take from the writer-director of the Hangover films, a series of films devoid of almost any moral framework or artistic saving grace. Of which more in a moment.
As we know, this character has become something of a staging post for great screen actors; to have, now, an eponymous origin story starring one of the most intense and magnetic actors in Joaquin Phoenix, it may be seen to be lobbying for an almost Shakesperean tragic scale. And it's true that Pheonix turns in a remarkable performance, one of physical and vocal contortions that knowingly tips in to dance at important points. Deliberately recalling Scorsese's masterpieces of the Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, King Of Comedy era - and many other films besides , the film has desperately contemporary echoes, not least when the increasing crowds of Joker impersonators are 'dismissed as clowns' by the authorities at hand, which seemed to be a clear echo of Hilary Clinton's infamous 'deplorables' comment, the last nail in her electoral coffin.
Mental illness is a big theme too, and one that's hard to decide on if the film has got it right; the central character suffers from a condition (explained by a card he carries), which seems him laugh inappropriately when under pressure or stress. Ironically, in the screening I attended there was much incongruous and disturbing laughter to accompany moments of violence and distress on-screen.
There are some excellent supporting turns also - from Robert DeNiro, for whom it must have been an odd experience to see his own role in King of Comedy so heavily referenced; and from Frances Conroy as Joker's deluded (or not?) mother.
The film appears to be reaching after big themes about the division between rich and poor; the denial of services to the latter; imitative violence and much else. Inevitably, it touches on Batman's origins; there's a neat twist or two in that, though - twists which surprise, make thematic sense and make a point about morally murky lines. The film seems to be trying to elicit some kind of initial sympathy for Joker; the incident which sets him on his violent path is one in which Batman would have acted similarly, all be it with less blood. In origins at least, there's little to separate villain and noble vigilante.
Where you land with this film ultimately depends on what you take into it, and what you want from it. Some could see it as justifying evil; equally, it would be easy to read it as a commentary on significant societal issues. I tend towards the latter after days of reflection on it, the better to get the distance from how the film triggered me in various quite personal ways. It's hard to truly evaluate this, though, when the director has films as vaccuous and lacking in ethics, as openly racist, misogynistic and homophobic as the Hangover films. I'd suggest we need more distance - and a sense of both the where the story is taken in any future films and the future arc of the writer-director's career, to help us truly discern what this iteration of one of modern cinema's most iconic characters is trying to do or say - if anything. One of the many lapses into dance from Phoenix in the lead role put me in mind of the infamous, harrowing and often misunderstood dance that accompanies a little of the old ultra-violence in A Clockwork Violence. Is that knowing, clever or callous? Perhaps only time will tell.
Ultimately I think it's a brilliant piece of work, that may slightly over-reach itself; it's possible I may change that view on future viewings. Whatever view you take, I'd say one final thing: please make sure you actually see it first, before forming an opinion. And maybe give it time to settle for a few times after. A film that spends so long in the dark needs some reflection in the daylight.