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[Joker] Dead Man Joaquin
Local H Jay
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JOKER is a movie directed by Todd Phillips of The Hangover films, starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, a man based on the character Joker from DC Comics. Heavily influenced by other films such as Taxi Driver and Falling Down, it depicts the fall of a man as the world around him ignores him.
https://youtu.be/-_DJEzZk2pc
https://youtu.be/nTVdN6s3rXY+6
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It’s excellent because even if you don’t know that Joaquin is pronounced “Wah-keen” which sounds like “walking,” the typical phonetic mispronunciation based on the spelling would probably be “Joe-ah-kihn” which sounds like “joking” which also works for the Joker.
Kinda makes it less mysterious
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I think it makes more sense for Arthur to be the proto supervillain and inspire the actual Joker
I assume it's messier than that given
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But that one moment aside, I loved it. It was an homage to some better films, sure... but that does not diminish the care put into the craft or the good performances given. Joaquin acted his ass off in this film and I was uncomfortable throughout.
Let's play Mario Kart or something...
I was convinced he had scoliosis hallway through although it disappears when he's most in his element (e.g., the post-killing dances) which I thought was an interesting way of depicting how cramped and broken he is in society's role for him vs the freedom he feels when he assumes the role
His portrayal is so total in his mannerisms and body movements that I really got lost in him
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
If they weren't spending the money on out-patient treatment for the guy before, they sure as shit ain't feeding and housing him for the next several decades after he's committed multiple homicides.
It's really sad how as a kid we all were like "why would they simply not keep the Joker locked up / in treatment?" and that as an adult the answer was and had been all along simply that we would never fund social services to that extent.
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
I am mad at myself for the amount that that scene overwhelmed my initial reaction (like, the 'ride home with friends' convo I dwelled on that for some reason. it annoyed me.) but I like the movie more as time goes on.
There were a lot of uncomfortable things to say in this movie, about how society abandons its most vulnerable, about mental illness in general and then, possibly to the movies detriment, about how the mentally ill can themselves become violent. There is a lot of different ways of interpreting this movie, but I wholeheartedly reject a lot of the initial criticism from some left leaning sources about this movie inspiring killers/incel culture. Indeed, I've not watched such a virulently "Eat the rich" movie as Joker for a long time. If there is any antagonist in this movie, it's the rich and powerful of society who just don't seem to do anything right by the most vulnerable people in the movie.
By far the most poignant scene in the movie to me was when he has all his funding and help taken away from him when the mental health services are completely cut. When the person supposed to be helping him included herself in her frank assessment of the situation with "They don't give a fuck about you and they don't give a fuck about me" that was truly powerful. Everyone lost in that situation and it was only a matter of time before things just escalated.
There were a lot of magnificent shots in this movie and the soundtrack can only be described as completely haunting.
In the end I still haven't decided if I liked or hated this movie at this moment. It says a lot of uncomfortable things about the nature of suffering from mental illnesses, but I can't decide if it undermines that by making his backstory so extreme then leaning on that for why he snaps to mass killing* says some terrible things too. Especially when we live in a world where a man like Arthur is infinitely more of a danger to himself, which in fairness they did demonstrate in several ways, than to anyone else who isn't him.
I need to think about this movie more and in that way, it was a triumph.
The next thing that happens, if I'm remembering the movie right, is that he is mysteriously out of the fridge and gets an inexplicable phone call from the Murray show talking about how people loved the clip of him and Murray wants to have him on the program.
Everything after entering the fridge I am leaning towards just being in his head. He doesn't go on the Murray Show, he doesn't spark a revolution, he just suffocates in a fridge and the chase down a blank white hallway is just his last moments before death.
The stuff with the Wayne's was the worst part of the movie for me. Felt very distracting, like they were trying too hard to establish that all this takes place in Gotham and is thus really related to the Joker. They could have pulled the Gotham and Wayne references and the movie wouldn't have wasted effort leaning on the Batman stuff at all, and instead been it's own solid piece.
In the end, I appreciated the movie but felt myself really wishing they'd gone the distance to put together a piece that couldn't rely on the time period or fictional setting as insulation. I say this as somebody who has had to deal with the outright criminal shortcomings of the treatment of individuals with mental issues for over a decade now; I want people to be presented with the stark reality of the consequences of trying to bury the mentally ill and to be extremely uncomfortable with that reality.
Also disappointed that Phoenix did a great Joker in the end (not that he starts out badly, just that the character he grows into by the end is not what we have at the start), but timeline stuff means we'll probably never get his Joker alongside a decent Batman. This is the closest yet to having something like Joker from animated Batman series, but it's a pretty unique and unsettling take. Very good Joker laugh; making it a neurosis thing made it increasingly uncomfortable to see, particularly in the knowledge that we know Arthur can't stop the laughing and it actively pains him.
Worthwhile watch, but it could've been more and I'm also wondering if WB will be able to actually make anything useful from this or if they'll just churn out another DC disaster.
Like everyone else is saying, Joaquin acts his ass off in the movie.
I don't want a Batman movie that has this Joker in it, I think the movie is perfect as an one and done... but if someone came up with a Batman script that used this character I would at least be intrigued with what they had come up with.
It's worth a watch, but I don't think it's something I'd say is a must watch in the theater.
This is making me watch Taxi Driver for the first time though just so I can have that comparison to what is apparently the source material.