I don't joke about joker

Hello , you beautiful souls , missed you :) 

I know it's been quite some time since we've seen it but I'm going to talk to you about JOKER , it had been long demanded so it's my gift to you 

I’m sure all of you have already seen “joker “ at least once , if not  :

DISCLAIMER : THERE’S THE POSSIBILITY OF SPOILER TERRITORY

Just to remind everyone , “Joker” centers around the iconic archenemy ( main enemy of someone , in this case batman ) . Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck is the first focus on joker , doing a transition from a supporting role to a main one who is indelibly portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix, of a man struggling to find his way in Gotham’s fractured society. A hired clown by day, he aspires to be a stand-up comic at night but finds the joke always seems to be on him .  He finds himself Caught in a cyclical existence between apathy and cruelty, he makes one bad decision that brings about a chain reaction of escalating events in this uncompromising realism character study Philips makes .

So I’m going to give you all I got , the good the bad and the ugly ( great movie by the amazing Sergio Leone by the way lol ) :

The Good:

 Joaquin Phoenix nailed this performance from beginning to end. At no point does he lose momentum in his portrayal , especially in view of how he was playing a troubled and mentally ill man that is constantly getting pushed over a dangerous edge. Phoenix brought a lot of content and depth to the character for audiences who may not be familiar with how complex “Arthur Fleck” can be , he seems to have exhausted himself , not that it shows but watching the movie , I realized how he’s really aware of the audience he's feeding . 

I think the strongest aspect to his acting is how he’s able to portray the internal dysfunction of his character into an external expression of his fractured perception of reality. That, in itself, carries the movie in a whole other dimension . You can’t help but to be captivated by Phoenix every time he’s on screen because you’re always wondering just when will he finally break , His demented laugh is both awkward and offsetting which I think is deliberate . I would even say , some of the best moments will come from his extremely uncomfortable scenes that are cringe-worthy like his stand up scene or the random acts of violence like killing his freaking mother  WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT . 

Regardless of the situation, his performance will inevitably bring forth some sort of reaction from you as the movie goes on. Also , his physical transformation is completely insane ,he was really undernourished , you could even see his bones moving as if they were going to puncture his skin .

Side note : he's one of my favourite actors , please watch him in “the master” by Thomas Anderson , in “Her” by Spike jonze or even “I’m still here “ with Casey Affleck .

One obvious highlight will be found in both the editing and overall cinematography by Lawrence Sher . There are moments in the film that are shot in a way that almost make you feel like you’re experiencing the world with and through the character , the use of colour is completely genius, playing with the lens and the sunlight coming behind Joaquin has such a realistic effect that artistically destroyed me . 

I do believe that director Todd Phillips accomplished his goal in presenting a Gotham city that eventually will need a caped normal human to save it ( sorry for the batman lovers ) . 

The setting and atmosphere of the film has a flair from the 70’s era of filmmaking , you get a really good sense of the state of the society in Gotham city , I would even add that the city eventually became a character in itself  .

Another plus for Joker can be found in its unique approach to the Batman mythos. What I appreciated here as a comic fan, is that this film took some leeway with giving us a different take on how the world of Gotham came about in this depiction . It was intriguing to see how this film took a unique angle to show the political and sociological situations that feed into the character of Joker.

What makes this all work is that Batman or Bruce Wayne really don’t have to be centralized in this story for you to care and that is a real strength given Joker’s direct connection to the Batman character , He made a really smooth transition from a “dependant “ supporting character to a main focus character . And by the way , I am the only one who noticed the Bruce reference ?  Thomas Wayne’s son , Bruce who would ultimately grow up to become Batman .

The Bad ( I have to ) : 

A personal issue I had with this character was how overly sympathetic they made Joker. While the film may try to go for a more realistic approach with the character, it still ends up pushing some unbelievable situations for dramatic effect ( a bit desperate maybe ?) .

 It’s basically one issue on top another that becomes inescapable for Arthur’s character. There’s no denying the fact that at every single turn of this film, whenever hedoes something bad, the movie gives some sort of rationalization behind it. While his actions may not be justified all the time, there are enough reasons provided where audiences may sympathize to the point where they understand his actions, even if they may not disregard them.

What I will say, however, is that the imagery of a film carries much more weight than a simple line of writing . But the last thing I’d want to do is feel for the Joker. This film, regardless of his actions, leaves too deep of an impression, from a visual standpoint, where you can’t help but understand him more than you may want to. Also, I have to point out it felt overwritten in some parts of the movie to the point of self-parody which is quite heavy and uncomfortable to experience . And last thing is that I feel like it’s a bit too repetitive , scene after scene it makes the same point .

conclusion :

Joker is a captivating and insanely brilliant presentation of the classic comic book villain thanks to the award worthy performance by Joaquin Phoenix.  It isn’t a typical comic book movie , Joker was an interesting blend that tries to appeal to both audiences, and I would say that despite any divisiveness, it does accomplish that goal. Comic fans can look forward to yet another story within the Batman world, and non comic book fans can watch a dramatic tragedy befall an extremely damaged character.

This movie practically demands to be seen multiple times , I’ve personally seen it 3 times just that I can a make blog about it because I wanted to be sure to have my facts right before anyone attacks me :) There are some insanely deep nuances in the story that a lot of people will miss with a single viewing. 

With all that said , it would be unfortunate if I didn’t at least give a quick mention about the surrounding controversies and safety concerns around this film. Does Joker potentially feed people who are mentally unstable and maybe prone to violence? Yes. Yes it does. Does Joker present a problematic image of violence that gets rewarded with hero-worship? Yup. It definitely does that too. The film depicts and verbally echoes many of the qualities, thoughts, and traits that noted mass murders and crazy crimes . Does that mean we should ban the movie or that you should skip it? NO ARE YOU CRAZY. What’s important to note here is that mentally unstable people will hook on to anything, so that’s not necessarily an indictment against this film. 

At the same time, it doesn’t hurt to simply be a bit more aware , It never hurts to be a little more cautious and mindful. Anyway, I think Joker is a solid movie that will leave audiences talking and thinking. It’s obviously very rated R, so don’t be fooled by the clownish appearance. 🤡

Thanks for reading :) and I would love to hear some of your opinions about it too 

Till next time , M.M