Review By Amita Basu (India)
Joker (2019) squanders its potential for powerful commentary, settling instead for a fatalist vindication of violence
I wanted to like Joker. Ever since watching Batman: The Animated Series in primary school, I’ve been a fan of all things Batman. Christopher Nolan’s flawed but masterful trilogy sent me to the comic books it referenced. The comics furnish Batman with a pantheon of worthy foes, and of these, Joker was the most compelling. So when I heard a Joker origin film was imminent, featuring the quirky but considerable talents of Joaquin Phoenix, I booked tickets and went prepared to like Joker.
I didn’t. Joker is a film entirely lacking both comedy and tragedy. Instead of comedy, we’re offered a few stray chances to laugh at protagonist Arthur Fleck (Phoenix): a clown by day, an aspiring standup so lacking in comedic sensibility that his mother Penny (Frances Conroy) wonders: “What makes you think you can do that? Don’t you have to be funny?” As Joker progresses, and Fleck turns the tables, we now get a few chances to laugh at his antagonists: a colleague who double-crosses him (Glenn Fleshler), and the talk-show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro) who disappoints Fleck’s search for a father-figure. Neither does Joker offer tragedy. Tragedy demands a character whose head we can enter, to look out with their eyes at their problems and their opportunities, to understand why they make the choices they do. Tragedy takes us into the crucible of suffering and moral conflict from which characters can emerge as heroes, or villains, or dead. Joker is a curiously amoral film: Fleck never makes a moral choice. Neither are we allowed to enter Fleck’s head: his sufferings are intense, but too farfetched to be credible. And the character is so systematically bizarre, it remains alien. Joker wants us to sympathise with Fleck’s actions without allowing us to enter his head.
What Joker does give us, in lieu of comedy and tragedy, is an uninterrupted hammering on the head with drama.
From its opening, Joker establishes Fleck as an underdog. He’s mentally ill, victim of a Tourette’s-like disorder that produces a hyena-like cackle, which devolves into crying then choking. He’s emaciated. Neither his mental illness nor his emaciation is explained: they’re just there to pile on the suffering. He works odd jobs as a clown, with hostile colleagues. He lives with and cares for his mother. He has no girlfriend. The paltry healthcare he receives through social services gets cut off. Oh, and Gotham City has teamed up against him: strangers gang up to kick this underdog at every street-corner. Through acts one and two, Joker substitutes narrative conflict and choice with relentless drama. Fleck never had a choice. It was merely a question of when he would snap.
In juxtaposing mental illness with guns and (spoiler alert) childhood physical abuse – while foregoing other aspects of this supervillain’s origin story – Joker set itself up to provide powerful commentary on large-scale social problems and the origins of crime. Here’s a mentally-ill, impoverished person who loses his healthcare and his access to medication. Here’s a mentally unstable young white man, regularly subject to physical abuse by strangers, whose colleague hands him a gun in a brown paper bag. “I’m not supposed to have a gun,” Fleck objects. The combination of under-managed mental illness, total lack of opportunity, and shockingly easy access to firearms sets up a story with potential for incisive analysis of the social conditions from which crime arises – the conditions that sustain the ongoing epidemic of gun violence in the United States. What does Joker have to say about its premises?
Quite a lot. In the background, the television plays headlines about things getting worse for ordinary people. Early on, Fleck sums up: “Is it just me, or are things getting worse?” He has much more to say in Act Three, as preface to and vindication of his most public crime yet: on live national television, he accuses society of mistreating him. Joker has gone out of its way to show us that Fleck is the unfunniest person alive: he laughs at the wrong bits of jokes, and flounders through his one go at the mic. Possibly, his unidentified neurological condition renders him humourless. Besides, this particular iteration of the Joker doesn’t seem too bright. Either way, it is undoubtedly sad that this man who longs to be a comic is constitutionally unfunny; even sadder that he lacks the opportunities for a dignified and well-paying job suited to his abilities. But the accusation Fleck levels at society’s hegemonic standards for humour is ridiculous, skewing dangerously alt-left. He concludes his vindication: “What do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that treats him like trash? You get exactly what you deserve.” Then comes more violence. Fleck’s first crimes have already made him the hero of an Occupy Wall Street-type mob; his newest act unleashes mass violence. Fleck ascends, literally, to be figurehead of a nihilist revolution.
That Joker squanders its opportunities is tragic on three counts.
First, Phoenix’s performance alone demands a better film. The abandon with which he throws his face, in multiple close-ups, into Fleck’s meaningless spells of laughing and crying is chilling. Quieter moments, in which his face becomes a hollow mask of disappointment and only his deep-set eyes burn, are equally well-done. Phoenix’s performance alone persuaded me to sit out the film after the first act, when I’d given up on its story.
Second, the issues Joker raises contained the seed of a powerful tragedy: a complement to 2005’s Batman Begins. Joker flirts with exploring how tragedy can produce both heroes and villains – but abandons this idea, just as it abandoned a real exploration of the roots of crime and suffering in social conditions. Joker’s squandering of its own potential is itself tragic.
Third, and most important, Joker raises issues that matter to millions of people in the US and across the world. Healthcare in the US is a broken system; mental health services are particularly inadequate. This long-festering crisis has, unfortunately, only now reached public consciousness – arm-in-arm with the question of gun control, another deeply divisive issue demanding concerted action. 911 responders are unequipped to handle calls involving the mentally ill. The country’s overpopulated and ineffective penal system contains 1.2 million people who should be getting treated, not punished. The roots of crime in poverty and socioeconomic disparity are equally well-documented. Income inequality in the US has always been high, and is rising. Things are getting better: slowly, for some people, in some cases. Clearly, things need to get better, faster: but through the democratic process, not through nihilist violence. Joker points the finger at key issues threatening the wellbeing and the existence of millions of Americans. But it does so with a cynical fatalism. This is the way things are, it declares, and we can’t expect them to get better. We must take things in our own hands. And that means taking up guns, putting on masks, and reclaiming the masculinity that society has denied us. Success at any cost: to oneself, and to others.
I wanted to like Joker. I objected to fears raised about the film’s effects. After all, free speech is the pillar of democracy. I’m glad I watched it: but only for Phoenix’s performance. Joker represents at worst an abuse of free speech; and at best a by-the-numbers, black-and-white, the-worm-turns documentary of what happens when a mentally ill person loses their healthcare and acquires a gun. Even this best-case scenario is problematic. For Joker isn’t neutral about Fleck’s transformation. The suddenly bright colour palette of Act Three, the switch from low-lit to sunlit cinematography, Fleck’s jaunty stride down the stairs, the confidence with which he occupies the venue of his declaration, the dramatically lit low-angle hero-at-the-centre-of-the-world scenes of Fleck conducting chamber-music after his crimes – all collude to push the Joker to us as the only solution: against a world that doesn’t care, mass violence.
Fleck doesn’t fall into violence. He rises. That is a deeply problematic message.
Rating: 3/5
Joker. Wow. The richest story in the DC Universe comics & animation films; is that of the Joker & Batman. This particular film has managed to pre-excite the audience for the upcoming Batman film in 2021. In hopes that by the time Bruce Wayne (Robert Pattinson) kicks in to the story, the Joker, remarkably portrayed by (Joaquin Phoenix), would have fully evolved & matured into the “Prince of crime” as seen in the comics.
Joker was a compelling and powerful origin story that throughout, unavoidably enough, manages to garner sympathy from the audience. With excellent story structure, character moments & character development, it’s THE best well written & developed film of the year.
If one were to even concentrate on some of the moments, they would be able to notice the attention to detail. Such as the depressing scene of the Joker’s flashbacks to never having even been with the woman, Sophie Dumond, (Zazie Beetz). A pitiful, strange, broken, lonely, & twisted man with an unforgivable dark past, whom the audience clearly contemplate as to how he would even be capable of attaining a normal companion. “Reading between the lines”; it makes one wonder if the only real moment was when she showed up to his comedy show performance, sitting in alone, watching him in the dark background of the venue. The saddest reality was to realize just how much hopelessness was inside the Joker. To the extent that even in his most beautiful & ‘good’ moments of happiness; they were all delusions. Just that brief evaluation from the film allows the audience to examine more closely his mental journey to madness.
Joker is not only a reflection to some people’s understanding of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but also a reflection of our insecure society. This film is emotionally challenging, yet also truthfully haunting. A major mark in the history of Gotham City’s uprising of crime & the man who started it all, automatically allowing viewers to make comparisons of previous Joker films. Even the heart breaking moments, such as the discovery of his adoption, really pushed the audience to imagine just what could be going through his mind, allowing ourselves to understand the different reasons that led to his new found violence. Joker, accepting his sinister side, without any emotion is powerfully portrayed in many scenes, from killing his adopted mother then looking out the window, to killing his old work colleague all whilst maintaining his composure shows just how much crap he’s been through to reach a state of numbness.
Joker, all in all, has proved to be a super – super villain story with an intense touch of real life. At some point watching the dramatic film, you forget the fact that this all originated from a comic book.
An excellent picture. Excellent.
You wouldn’t idolize the joker unless someday you leave your work place or study broken deep inside, feeling totally marginalized, at least, once in your life
No one ever think to talk to you unless to say a word that may kill you, though u come over it,
Or when u get rejected from someone you love
When Arthur Flick(Joker) was imagining that he has a lover he didn’t make her say: Arthur I want to marry you”, instead, he said on her behalf : ” 3 guys in Ghothenham had died, 1 million remain.
you can imagine my dear
In the cinema, when our friend Arthur was laughing unwillingly because of his psychological illness trying hardly to mute himself, what happened then, did the guys in cinema feel him?
No, instead they started laughing!
Perhaps this movie is meant to uncover our society first, at least the citizens of Ghotheham didn’t know Arthur so well as we did, though, we made fun of him.
Someone said Arthur needed one single thing in the whole movie, one single attitude stood between him and transforming to the character of the Joker… To be hugged by anyone, one single person!
However, do we really have the right to blame him!?
Can you imagine sitting with a person who has been killed one thousand time and start advising and giving him lessons in morals while you are living a life of nobles?! as Joker said:” you decide what’s right or wrong. The same way that you decide what’s funny or not.”
We log into social media to laugh about a video for very short man, we may call him “dwarf”, or someone fat who got stuck in the mud…
But if that short or crippled man comes and tell you: “Your boss had been stabbed 5 times by an employee”, you wouldn’t find it funny, instead you would find it very rude and disgusting thing and you’ll get very mad.. But you have never thought that making fun of someone is very disgusting to him, and that makes him very angry, very mad…That makes him a Joker..
You are the one who creates the Joker and you are the one who can prevent him of demonstrating among us..
but unfortunately, when he exists, you can’t find a way to make him disappear anymore, because the time of marginalization, bullying and oppression will vanish.
Weakness will turn into a curse on anyone who helped developing it inside us.
Weakness will become a “power”, a “pride” a “glory”!
It’s the revolution of the marginalized people! It’s the revolution of those who had been told “NO” repeatedly.
You think they are clowns, They are now, without being ashamed!
We are all clowns
Absolutely a masterpiece movie. i watched it twice Joaquin’s performance was phenomenal the way he transform slowly from Arthur to Joker is marvelous. the cinematography is great every is amazing and music hildur guðnadóttir is just mind blowing. I just one say line.
Joker is one of the best comic book movie i ever see
I love this movie all quotes thanks this site is awesome.
Best joker quotes
The onwner of this web is a REAL genius, thanks for all
Joker : What’s your name?
Me : Shafin
Joker : Are you depressed?
Me : Yes
Joker : Are you shocked?
Me : Yes
Joker : Are you hate people?
Me : Sometimes.
Joker : Do you have an emotional past?
Me : I’m not sure..
Joker : Are you fool?
Me : Maybe..
Joker : Are you broken?
Me : A little…
Joker : Do you have any dream?
Me : I had..
Joker : Has you been cheated ever?
Me : Again and again…
Joker : Then why you smile all-time?
Me : I Don’t know..
Joker : Because you are also a joker.Come and join my club..
Me :
Own Words.. Not copied from anywhere…
Don’t forget to smile…
😀
Hey, do you mind if I use this for a fanfic?
Just an amazing movie.
Wasn’t there a part of Arthur’s stand-up routine where he mentions getting bullied at school or something? I can’t remember the quote. Anyone remember it?
i know there was a deleted scene about that
i think he said, when was a little boy and told people i was gonna to be a comedian, everyone laughed at me, but nocone’s laughing now!
Why do you censor the word “Killing”?
might be for some search engine’s indexing reasons
Oooohh man!!!! Where to begin. Joker is such a well grounded and gritty film it is definitely a horse of a different color for comic book films. From the cinematography, pacing , to the smooth transition between each scene I felt like I was watching an A24 independent film. Joaquin phoenix knocked this out of the park his performance was amazing. This was really his movie from beginning to end, and every scene he is in your immediately immersed and excited to see what’s about to happen next. His character Arthur fleck is someone who is just damaged no one really likes him they think he’s weird , pretty much an outcast of society. But that doesn’t stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a stand up comedian which unfortunately comes to an end after having that “One bad day”. Then the ball starts rolling from there. What’s unique about this film is that it also brings awareness to mental illness. You really get to see throughout the film how Arthur fleck tries to cope with his day to day conditions and how he slowly transitions into joker . It’s almost as if the director ripped a page out of the 1970’s Taxi driver film.
My only issue with the film and this is the only issue I had, Its a slow burn movie. The pacing was really slow on some parts , but once the second half commenced it was a roller coaster ride.
Joker is a masterpiece film and will forever be my top DC film of all time hands down. 5 out 5.
That is the smartest thing I’ve read all day, particularly the A24 bit (I’ve never seen a bad film from them yet). IDK, but it kinda’ feels like a proper film critique. Like, what are you doing here with me and everyone? Perhaps you should be on another web site, but actually writing for them after having seen whatever is on the home box office this week, you know?
I mean, I would but my synopsis would probably not be as eloquent as yours was just now.
Because joker is a iconic mass villain , everyone like this character in DC comics.. even in dark knight movie , batman with his suit and technology came to fight with joker , but Joker stand cool with his gun infront of batman without any suit in his body.. what a attitude of joker ! It’s very impressing and make everone love to that Joker character.. that’s why Joker is very famous.. i am a huge fan of JOKER.
didnt see the movie. but this lack of substance in writing got me worried
the acting is amazing! usually dont like DC movies but this great. i think its better than anything I’ve seen in a while.
Can u put dialogue last fifteen minutes of the movie. It’ very interesting conversation with joker and Murray. It’s reflects totally movie theme of the joker
Ditto and well said.
Of ALL THE DC FILMS, intellectual properties for film as well as TV, even rolling the clock back to Reeves (RIP), this is, bar none, the very best, highest artistic achievement of them I’ve ever seen.
And, my God, I consume too much media as it is. They normally do not give serious accolades for comic book film as it is generally squarely rooted in Action genre. We’re not talking Shakespeare here, you know…but this? This is high end drama, a proper R-rating, just high marks all around. It should net awards, surely.
Regular comic films get mostly just technical awards; sound editing, costume design, things like that. However, were I a gambling man, I would heartily expect some Oscar chatter or a statue next Feb.
I seen it last friday going in with low expectations. It blew me away. It is fantastic.
you forgot “Sending the CLOWN!!” one