Joker

Movie, 2019, R

Premise - The origin story of Arthur Fleck as Joker, the eventual nemesis of Batman. Taking place before Joker and Batman had ever met, the film introduces Arthur Fleck as a lonely, socially ostracized man within a society that has reached a state of emergency over its vast inequalities. Without money, friends, or career, and with his social worker's funding cut, Joker is a highly unhinged, mentally ill man who becomes spiteful of the rich and ready to lash out in violence.

Review - This movie stands on its own as a masterpiece. While I commend the originality of whoever created a clown for a DC Comics supervillain character (using the term "super" here flexibly, as he has no superpowers), and while I am aware that there have been past wondrous portrayals, nobody has to watch or know anything about past DC canon to find immense value in this film. The character's name could have been changed to something other than Joker, and it still would have had the same profound cultural impact just as a stand-alone story. Of course, the fame around the "Joker" name propelled it beyond Oscars bait into a mainstream supervillain phenomenon, becoming the first film I am aware of to pass $1 billion worldwide as an R-rated film.

I knew this was a film I would like. I wanted to see it in theaters, but I could not think of anyone else who would share the same enthusiasm. I have never (*gasp*) seen a Batman film in my life (except The Dark Knight Rises actually, but I had NO idea what was going on..) but my interest in this was completely irrelevant to the DC Universe. This is a film about a dark, antihero, and particularly a character exploration of how he came to be, and what goes on his mind. That's the kind of twisted content I melt for. Despite being a "supervillain" film it had nothing to do with superpowers or fantasy or big battles. Even with that preconception of the film in mind, the film ended up being at least 50% even slower-paced than I had anticipated, and an even deeper character exploration than I could have hoped for.

What I had envisioned was some sort of catalyst scene to happen mid-film that would launch Joker into fame. For instance, take the scene where (SPOILER) Joker shoots Murray. That was at the very end of the film. I had thought a scene of that nature would happen mid-movie, followed by the riots where Joker rises to fame, and then there would be an entire, faster-paced second act. Nope. The whole film was about Joker's rise to that one climactic scene. The rest of the film, more or less, has little actual plot. I know some may disagree, because yes he kills those guys on the subway, and yes he kills his mom, but I still wouldn't say it's a plot-heavy movie. It is still first and foremost a film about character.

What makes the film uniquely uncomfortable is how emotionally "off" it feels. Every emotion Arthur experiences or expresses is the EXACT opposite of what normal society does. Let's start with his condition, the compulsive laughter. Arthur, when sad, upset, nervous, uncomfortable, etc., has a neurological condition that causes uncontrollable laughter. Laughter, and particularly strained or strange laughter, arises at the most inappropriate moments of the film. But even genuine laughter comes at inappropriate times. There is this horribly awkward scene where Arthur is watching a comedy show and every time the audience laughs, he's quiet, and every time the audience is quiet (because the comedian is still building up to a punchline) Arthur wildly bursts out laughing. All the while, he's taking notes about what other people find funny because he doesn't have the intuition to understand humor himself. This all culminates in the end of the film, where Arthur says that his life is a comedy instead of a tragedy. It is the exact reverse from the truth, where his life originally seemed like a comedy (loser who doesn't know how to tell a joke) and turned into a tragic tale of a murderous psycho.

It's interesting how Arthur's origin story had little to do with political motivations, despite his becoming a political symbol. Yes, his problems were caused, or at least worsened, by society. But he does not become Joker to rebel against society generally, he does it with a personal spite for the way he had been mistreated. This puts the focus of Arthur's transition to Joker not on Gotham's dystopia, but on his own mental health (that went mistreated due to Gotham's dystopia). Arthur's emotional dysfunction, and his neurological laughing condition, were directly caused by childhood abuse and trauma. But that came from a cycle of abuse where his adopted mother also had an unchecked mental illness and was likely abused herself, cycle goes on.

None of this is an excuse for Arthur's violent behavior, but it is still not exactly black and white who is good or who is bad. The reason why society resonates so much with Joker is that he represents one of them, the 99%. And the 1%? They're all rich men who spit on the poor. And you know who's part of the 1%? The Wayne family, aka Bruce Wayne, aka Batman. How can Batman be a true hero if he's a freakin' billionaire who hoards that level of wealth and resources? It's easy to see how people can start to side with what Joker represents.

Unfortunately in real life, this means that Joker has become a popular film among certain dangerous subcultures. Incels, for example, seem to love the film. There was some fear that when the film was released, perhaps someone would be inspired and shoot up the theater. The film almost glorifies the stereotypical single, lonely, socially awkward white male who so often ends up turning against society and murdering people. I highly doubt there are people who watch the film and are inspired to kill, and if there are, that's not on the film. The film does not outwardly promote nor condone violence, instead focusing on Arthur's particular character and state of mind.

Something incels probably relish in, however, is how the film highlights how terrible a socially awkward white man like Arthur can be treated in life. It's used as an argument against feminism or racial activism, because how can white men be favored if Arthur is treated like such trash? To that I say, remember that Thomas Wayne as well as the three Wall Street guys he shot up on the subway where all white men. Not all white men are on top, but only white men are on top.

But socially awkward indeed, is Arthur. And he is treated absolutely horribly by both individuals and the system at large. It pains me how terrible the mental health system was, and how the social worker was entirely burned out and disinterested. That's why I always become hooked in antihero stories. No, I can't condone him, but the film made him so easy to understand. Credit also goes to Joaquin Phoenix, who won the Oscar for his portrayal. To be honest, Joaquin Phoenix has always made me uncomfortable, same as Arthur. His performance in Her still makes me feel kind of sick to think about. Watching him give interviews and speeches, he is quite an awkward man. Awkward, but talented. This is a 100/100 performance.

You know who else gave a 100/100 performance? The freakin' composer! She won the Oscar, and became the first female EVER to win for musical score, woohoo! (94/100)

Quote - "I used to think my life was a tragedy. Now I realize, it's a fucking comedy."

What to watch for - There are several iconic shots throughout the film, most notably when Arthur is making his way down the staircase. I commend whoever edited the trailers for this film, because the trailers are absolute MASTERPIECES that collect some of the best shots I've ever seen in cinema.

If you liked this movie, I'd recommend Mr. Robot! I can see a wide array of parallels, including the protagonist being a socially awkward antihero with severe mental health problems who ends up becoming the symbol of something much larger than himself, the dystopian society and riots in the streets, the rebellious groups wearing a certain type of mask as a symbol of their hero, political upset over wealth inequality, and lots of violence.

Based on characters from DC Comics
Directed by Todd Phillips
Distributed by Warner Bros