The most controversial movie of the year?
Joker is getting plenty of attention nowadays, and with this character driven feature directed by Todd Phillips from The Hangover movies, you would not expect such a change of quality of film making to be happening.
Loosely based on The Killing Joke from 1988, Arthur Fleck is a failed stand-up comedian with disturbing mental health issues, which is worsened as society trashes upon him and makes him feel like being non-existent.
Living with his mother in Gotham City, he attempts to make people feel happy by bringing them joy and laughter, but class-ism, bullying, mental healthcare and the tense political uprisings outside eventually bring out his alter-ego as The Joker.
This slow-burn moving story can be considered as kino, as the premise is relevant to what is happening today in the world in terms of protests, inequality, abstract obstructions, violence and despair.
Joaquin Phoenix brings an incredible performance with an iconic laugh that may or may not be consciously intended, as sometimes it is considered as a medical handicap, and sometimes as part of his clown act. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s score is uplifting, melancholic and sincere.
In the climax however, it doesn't matter, as he embraces his new state of being, presenting himself towards the city through the media in a live talk show in a memorable speech and a finisher that has to be seen to be believed.
Joker is a transcending beautiful wreck of filming, depicting a bleak setting with horrific outcomes, as bloody deaths will occur, but through that, as well as his delusions of fame and love, not to mention feeling betrayed, he at first ascends the stairs, and then spirals them into downfall, with full joy and madness. And the bliss is supreme.
At first, he considered life to be a tragedy. But then, he realized it's all a comedy.
Rating: 8.5
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