Movie Review: Joker (2019)

Joker (2019) co-written and directed by Todd Phillips

Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is the most down-on-his-luck person in Gotham City. He works as a rent-a-clown, performing at hospitals and kids' parties. His latest job is spinning a sign in front of a music store that's closing. The sign is stolen by a bunch of teenage boys. Fleck chases them, only to be knocked down and kicked around by them in an alley. The run-down agency where Fleck works is more sympathetic to the store than to Fleck--they will take the cost of the sign out of his salary. At home, Fleck lives with his aging mother (Frances Conroy), who needs his support and who still hopes to get help from her former employer, billionaire Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen). She worked there over twenty years ago, so her letters get no reply. Fleck also has a somewhat disconnected therapist who asks the same questions over and over. At least she prescribes the medicine he needs to control his condition where he laughs during inappropriate situations. Then the funding runs out and he has no medicine and no therapist. He dreams of being a stand-up comedian like TV talk show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) and dating his cute neighbor (Zazie Beetz). His life, his career, and his sanity melt away as indifference, violence, and disregard spiral out of control.

The tone of the movie is fairly grim. Viewers have a good idea of how things will turn out (we've all seen the Joker before in one incarnation or another, at least you should have if you are watching an R-rated movie). Many scenes are prolonged agonies as we wait for what will go wrong for Arthur. He is sympathetic to a point but as he makes worse and worse decisions, any hope for his reform or even a small amount of happiness vanishes.

Thematically, what viewers bring to the movie is probably what they will take away. The movie can be seen as a harrowing depiction of the plight of the mentally ill. It can be seen as an example of moral decay in modern urban settings. It can be seen as a class warfare film. It can be seen as a rip-off (or homage) to Martin Scorsese films of the 1980s. It can be seen as an actor's showcase with an incredible performance by Phoenix. The only thing it doesn't look like is a typical comic-book movie. The thematic ambiguity helps the film as long as a viewer gives it even the slightest benefit of the doubt. It's easy to find some element satisfying or resonant.

Which is not to say that the film is enjoyable in the traditional sense. It falls closer to a cathartic experience. Arthur looks like a classic tragic hero, with his excessive ambition (he really doesn't have comedic talent) and the world set against him. He doesn't die at the end (the typical tragic hero finale) unless you consider that becoming Joker is the death of Fleck. But he does not become a different person. For all his problems, he's not schizophrenic. At the end of the film, Fleck has gone through a character arc and is still the same person, only much worse. And the world around him is much worse off too.

Joker is fascinating to watch but is very tense and very tragic. I'm glad I watched it but I am not sure how much (if any) rewatching I will do.

Recommended, highly if you have a tolerance for bleakness and sorrow.