"JOKER REVIEW"

"Joker" in my opinion is the film of the year. 

It's not the film of the year because it is a 'flawless' film, far from it. I think some of the editing is sloppy and some of the story is sloppy but since the film is essentially from the point of view of a disjointed unreliable narrator in a wiggly state of mind most of the movie . . . I think a lot of that sloppiness is intentional and if not still works for me. 

"Laugh and the World Laughs with you, Weep and you Weep Alone" - OldBoy. 

"The thing about having a mental illness is everyone expects you to behave as if you don't". - Joker's Notebook - "JOKER". 

Joker right now is easily the most controversial film of the year from Phoenix walking out of interviews, to Todd Philips saying that 'woke culture' is the death of comedy, and the fears of what happened in Aurora, Colorado sparking new outrage and plenty of memes and think pieces about the potential for mass murder perpetrated by lonely white men identifying with the 80 years glorified laughing serial killer, self proclaimed, clown prince of Gotham. It seems to all be a kind of cultural smoke and mirrors now adding to the mystique of the film. After viewing the film it's apparent that this film isn't trying to glorify anything...or is it...? 

One thing that's apparently obvious to people are the influences of "Joker" and there are tons. Wether publicly stated or simply viewed the film evokes strong feelings from other films and while part of it does feel like a mashup of other film influences and sensibilities "Joker" still feels like, to me, a wholly unique film that got there on it's own if maybe using "The Taxi Driver" and "King of Comedy" as guardrails to create a uniquely captivating piece about the state of mental health in a divided economic metropolitan landscape. Whether or not the film is set in Gotham or even if Arthur Fleck is the "Joker" from D.C. comics fame seems to be for the most part irrelevant as to what the film is actually about. 

The film has more in common with "The Taxi Driver" than it ever did with the D.C. universe.  

Travis Bickle also keeps a journal and in his haunting voice over he expresses his feelings. "Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man."

Robert Di Niro is of course in the film and puts in a wonderful performance as Murray Franklin. 

"Joker" the film seems to do two things both wading into the fears of the audience and also humanizing "Joker". While as chaotic fever dream and wild as the ending is, the point of the film seems to be beyond strictly chaos and nihilism but a poignant portrait of a delusional mentally handicapped man in a world that doesn't care about him. While little touches like him being off his meds, him never actually genuinely laughing, outside of one time, according to the director,  the film is deeply peppered with vagueness while being stunningly cinematic. It's a film whose interpretations seems be to very open to discussions that will keep this film around in the zeitgeist longer than most. 

Protesters Dress Up As Joker.

The film has sensibilities of other controversial films it leans on. However that seems apropos considering that the "Joker" himself was a reference to cinema from the 1928 film "The Man Who Laughs". 

 So if Warner Brother's and the filmmakers were acting surprised their controversial film was controversial than I'd simply suggest they were being purposefully being naive. The ending of the film has a fever dream tone that reminds me of "American Psycho" and the film as a whole has some of the vibes of "Man Bites Dog" where it seems the character is being set up for us to like him until the point he snaps, despite his obvious character flaws early on. 

 Joker appears to be a rich amalgam of all these sensibilities. It's not a new recipe so to speak but it's just a bunch of the same cinematic ingredients from different recipes all adding up to a wholly captivating film. "Joker" seems to address the zeitgeist regarding America's mental health crisis while also trying to fold that theme into a D.C. comics world. That aspect seems very sloppy to me yet considering the audiences reaction to the film seems to be deeply effecting after all we do use pop culture symbols to help us identify with ourselves. Perhaps "Joker" pokes at our dark IDs deep enough and reminds people that part of the human condition can be dark and isn't just a fairy tale happy ending. 


 The Joker has been around for a very very long time. The film doesn't re-invent him but rather takes various film ideas as well as comic book ideas and utilize them in a unique way using the frame work of "The Taxi Driver" and "King of Comedy". Joker has violently assaulted people on talk shows, he's skinned a man alive, and made crass jokes just before shooting security guards. 

                      Joker has become as far removed from the Cesar Romero and Dick Sprang Joker's of the past worried about laughing fish, giant violins, and pulling the greatest boner the world has ever seen. 

 "And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are comparable I simply am not there." - American Psycho, Brett Easton Ellis.


Despite a Golden Lion win and any future awards "Joker" has already stood apart from other comic book films and other films of this year for the controversy that ended up being such a dud, articles have been written with titles like "Journalists Upset Joker Hasn't Caused Violence" and discussions about toxic masculinity seem to have overshadowed a film whose thesis seems to want to discuss mental health within a toxic environment. It's the first film I can think of since "The Last Jedi" to have such a polarizing effect on the audience who viewed it and strangely enough thanks to projection and meme culture such a deep effect even on the audience who hasn't seen it in a way I can't remember that I've ever seen. Love it or hate it "Joker" seems to be deeply effecting as a film for the smorgasbord of design it is. 

 . . . 


 If this review, journal entry, seems like a hodgepodge of influences and disconnected thoughts and ideas consider that appropriate for the source material, which is a disjointed hodgepodge of influences and ideas with a singular brilliant performance...although I'd hardly refer to anything in this journal as brilliant. 

I would wax pedantic about the amount of subtle references to other controversial films but....most of it seems obvious to me and unimportant Easter Eggs. Hey...look, the same haircut.

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