“Put on a happy face.
During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.” – Letterboxd Synopsis
Joker has become a sort of divisive movie since its release. While most still sing its praises highly, others have come to recognize the influences that it wears very blatantly on its sleeve and judge it less highly. I watched it back in 2019 and loved it. I just rewatched it again in preparation for the sequel and I still hold this movie very high regard for its message, acting, storytelling, and directing.
The idea of a Joker origin story not directly involving Batman/Bruce Wayne can work and fall apart in a few ways. I think it really worked here. Joker can exist without Batman explicitly because the reason both of these beings exist is the corrupt, bad city that is Gotham. And I really love how Gotham is used in this movie.
This story of Arthur fleck is one about mental health not being properly addressed in society. Which is why I think this movie will forever hold up. For better or worse, you can strip Joker and Gotham away from this movie and the message is still very prevalent. Joaquin gives the performance of a lifetime of a man who has mental health issues that the world just ignores. He does such a great job expressing how invisible Arthur feels. How people like him have no structure put in place to thrive in society, they just get ignored or ironically, when they do get seen, it’s to be laughed at. Arthur, being the pov character, leads to my favorite thing about this movie, which is the unreliable narration and scenes that seem real but either aren’t or quickly devolve into this fantasy in his mind. So many scenes eventually end up re-contextualized by the end. It’s really well done. He’s not even the only unreliable narrator in the story and that other plot line is really well done as well.
This movie has a clear message about mental health and how society treats people with said issues. Underfunding or downright not funding practices that can help with it. Tossing them to the side like its nothing. There’s also a lot of class related messaging mixed in with that. It’s really well done, although it isn’t subtle in any way, but I don’t think it has to be because the writing and direction stand strong. One of my favorite lines in the movie is when Joker relates comedy to the system and how they are both treated as very subjective. This messaging never felt overbearing cause the film always knew what it wanted to say. Its also very crazy but true to the character of the Joker that he becomes this symbol of the unseen people of Gotham but still remains very selfish in how he feels about all of that.
The direction is amazing, well shot, the color grading is chefs kiss. Especially with the use of dark colors and blues to give the sinister but overall melancholic vibe. Without a doubt this is very Gotham, not as gothic as it is sometimes depicted but very grungy and crowded as its New York/New Jersey/Chicago inspirations are in real life. And while Joaquin might not be the best Joker overall, when he is finally embraced as that character and he is in the red suit with all the makeup for my money’s worth, he may be the best looking on screen adaptation of the character to date.
So yeah, this movie definitely wears its influences on its sleeve, but for me it does them right and it tells the story it wants to without being bogged down by them. The direction is amazing. Joaquin is an amazingly tragic Joker. The supporting cast was just as amazing. Gotham City as a city, character, metaphor for the real world is used brilliantly. I really believe that this movie will stand the test of time. The message here was and still is real. Joker is an amazing film. I really wish I could’ve said the same for its sequel…
Joker – 9/10
