Don’t Forget to Smile - Joker Review

Joker often feels like a film that defies description. Far from a story of the traditional hero, and somehow further from our new anti-heroes, this unsettling take on the origin of an incredibly significant character in the cultural zeitgeist hits like a brick through a window.

The story itself follows Arthur Fleck, a man who lives with his mother, struggling to take care of her as he goes to work in various places as a clown, and pursues standup comedy. It’s simple in nature and grows over time, truly taking on a life of its own within the comic book universe it takes place in. The non-canonical flow that carries the film forward helps the story immensely, though I sometimes did feel like it got bogged down in tying itself to the Batman stories as a whole. Joker could live in its own bubble and takes obvious inspiration from 70s Scorcese flicks like Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, but the character exists within our collective headspace, for better or for worse.

I’ll take a short break to address the controversy that the film comes with. Many have asked if Joker is glorified and vilified as the hero of the story despite the violent crimes he incites. Somewhat, but for reasons that I can’t really talk about for spoilers’ sake. I’d compare it most to one of its biggest inspirations, Taxi Driver, in that Joker is never meant to be a model citizen, and his actions are rarely, if ever, justifiable. No film expects its audience to follow the actions of its central character, but like all good pieces of art, they should provoke thought and conversation, which Joker definitely does.

The film belongs to Joaquin Phoenix. Almost every single scene in the movie includes him and his absolutely fantastic performance. Phoenix is notorious for his pickiness with projects and often comes to the table for the weird and off-putting stories that have been told. But he always gives it everything he has and that’s no different here. His work doesn’t feel derivative of any actors who came to play the part before him, and that’s partially thanks to writer/director Todd Phillips and how he structured the character as well. The nuance that Phoenix brings to the role, the dances he creates, the laugh he has made, and the facial tics that bring Joker to life are astounding. To watch him work for two full hours was a treat.

The rest of the cast takes on the “supporting” moniker much more so here, as, like I mentioned, Phoenix is the focal point of every scene. Zazie Beetz delivers a quiet and sweet turn as one of Fleck’s neighbors. Robert DeNiro plays a talk show host as if he were born to do so and takes on the role with the same due diligence he does every other character. A couple of great cameo spots exist for those who know the actors, and those surprises are truly the only things that took me out of the movie for a second.

The other half of the magic in Joker is all thanks to Todd Phillips. The direction he brings is something I expected least of all out of this movie, and he moves the camera around scenes with such curiosity and imagination. As the story is told through the eyes and mind of Arthur, Phillips uses this to put the viewer in a similar state. The camera meanders around corners to get better angles on characters, slowly walks into an interesting image to get a closer look, and often flows with the same dance-like quality Phoenix brings to the role. Scenes are often cramped and hunched into small areas, forcing the audience to not only deal with and look at what they’re being shown, but to feel like they’re a part of it and be forced to experience it too. His script co-written with Scott Silver, while fantastic, takes a backseat to create the perfect vehicle for the direction and performances to shine.

Joker is an uncomfortable movie. Brutal in its depiction of mental illness, the wealth gap, and what constitutes comedy in its subjectivity, it begs to be explored with more time and thought than the roughly 5 hours I’ve had between the start of the film and me finishing this review. It’s not an easy movie to recommend to everyone, but if you can stomach the drumbeats of a dark tale filled with cymbal crashes of excitement and shock, I would highly suggest that you give Joker your time.

9/10