{"id":7885,"date":"2019-10-02T20:09:50","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T00:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=7885"},"modified":"2019-10-03T23:43:38","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T03:43:38","slug":"review-joker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=7885","title":{"rendered":"Review: JOKER"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hero-less comic book origin story leaves viewers feeling cold.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Why so serious Todd Phillips? With \u201cJoker,\u201d the director responsible for \u201cOld School\u201d and \u201cThe Hangover\u201d turns his back on slapstick, irreverent comedy. And based on Phillips’ comments leading up to \u201cJoker\u2019s\u201d release, the guy feels rejected, now that what launched him into the A-list has fallen out of fashion. But his answer is to upend the superhero genre with an R-rated character study of one of DC Comics most enigmatic villains. What\u2019s revealing is that the finished work qualifies as sort of a Shakespearean tragicomedy. It\u2019s a movie that comments on what is funny, while placing the story in a world that has no sense of humor.

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Our first introduction to Phoenix as Arthur Fleck.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Set in an early 1980s alternate reality, we meet Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) on a suburban sidewalk, dressed in a clown costume twirling a going out of business sign. When that sign is stolen by some kids, who then give him a beating, Arthur\u2019s employer decides to take the cost of the sign out of his paycheck. It\u2019s a really bad day, among many, many bad days for Arthur. Even his fellow clowns don\u2019t like him.

Living at home with his mother Penny (Frances Conroy), Arthur relies on government assistance. He takes a lot of pills, and at one point, he says that he thinks he was happier when he was in the hospital. His one joy is watching a late night talk show with his mother. The show\u2019s host, Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), often comments on Gotham City\u2019s problems. And in-keeping with the movie\u2019s comic book underpinnings, the nightly news is filled with outlandish tabloid-type stories like an invasion of giant rats.

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Robert De Niro as talk show host Murray Franklin.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s here where the hard-scrabble texture woven into the film by Phillips, who works from a script that he wrote with Scott Silver, reminds us of the other movies that make \u201cJoker\u201d engaging. Sure it\u2019s easy to reference Scorsese here, but absent Tim Burton\u2019s \u201cBatman\u201d and Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cThe Dark Knight,\u201d \u201cJoker\u201d would never have been possible. And without the emergence of the comic book genre as blockbuster entertainment, this artistic experiment would never qualify as a mainstream offering. Remember, for example, Brad Anderson\u2019s fascinating \u201cThe Machinist?\u201d I\u2019ll bet many of you don\u2019t.

Anyway, the Gotham of \u201cJoker\u201d is in chaos and wealthy, industrialist Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) has promised to rise to the occasion and save the city. Since the story is told from the perspective of Arthur, whose disturbed mind causes him to experience delusions, the viewer is constantly questioning what is real and what isn\u2019t. The rats might be real, but their size and number might be something only in Arthur\u2019s imagination.

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Fleck’s rare moment of tenderness feeding his mother Penny (Frances Conroy).<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, as Arthur\u2019s problems mount and his villainy grows, the explosion of violence that overcomes the city may not be as all-encompassing as Arthur believes. I don\u2019t want to play spoiler, but it is enough to say that in the \u201cJoker\u201d universe, Arthur\u2019s tilted way of looking at things proves to be weirdly charismatic. His violent actions give rise to a movement of sorts that capitalizes on economic disparities and social divisions.

And while the movement will excite viewers promising something beyond a profile of one disagreeable man, the problem with \u201cJoker\u201d is the lack of a proper foil. If every superhero movie is only as good as its villain, the same can be said in reverse of a super villain flick, right? Apparently, Phillips is hoping that his \u201cno hero\u201d approach will prove to be as nihilistically popular as Billie Eilish\u2019s hit song \u201cBad Guy.\u201d And, given the controversy surrounding \u201cJoker,\u201d audiences might initially give the film a big weekend, but viewers may exit the theater with little in their stomachs. Are we supposed to feel sorry for Arthur? Yes, I think so, but while his backstory may explain his violent actions, it isn\u2019t a justification. And his \u201cwatch the world burn\u201d mentality is hardly a way forward.

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“Am I funny?” Fleck’s comedic stylings are not well-received.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While I suspect that \u201cJoker\u2019s\u201d chances at being nominated for the top film awards are remote, there can be no question that Phoenix\u2019 performance will continue to be lauded. Here we see the Joker without his makeup, without the clown threads, and, at times, nearly naked. Phoenix lost 52 pounds for the role and contorts his body into a misshapen incarnation of mental illness. It\u2019s an unabashed cry for help. When the machinations of government cut him loose, Arthur\u2019s abandonment of medications inevitably leads to dangerous thought processes and bloody carnage. And there\u2019s no satisfactory way to bring things to a close.

Ultimately, the message here is a call for more understanding, sensitivity, and civility. Without it, the rule of law will be eroded. But unlike the traditional superhero adventures that rule cinemas, unsuspecting audiences are left with a problem in search of solution, which we assume that will come in the form of a bat.

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Jonathan grapples with what is wrong with the movie everyone is talking about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[296,1393,241,1769,1770],"class_list":["post-7885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-comic-book","tag-dc-comics","tag-joaquin-phoenix","tag-joker","tag-robert-de-niro","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7885"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7897,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7885\/revisions\/7897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}