Arthur Fleck’s (Joaquin Phoenix) life isn’t turning out as he imagined it would. Stuck at a dead end job as a rent a clown and struggling to find his path as a stand-up comedian, he looks the part of a man teetering on the edge. As the city of Gotham deals with a garbage strike, monster rats and just overall social scourge, the rich get richer and the rest are forgotten. Todd Philips’ Joker doesn’t blast onto the screen with a fury of CG or a downtown car chase, instead all we have here is a very sad man.
Throughout his day, Arthur is mocked, belittled and downright abused by society. Considered a “freak” who deals with an odd condition where he cackles uncontrollably at unexpected times. Forced to carry a laminated card that he hands to strangers that explains his disorder, it doesn’t even begin to explain all the cracks within this broken individual. Very early on in the film the audience gets a glimpse of an individual who clearly struggles on a day to day basis.
Behind his quirks and laughing fits, Arthur keeps a somewhat positive beat. He works, goes home to take care of his elderly mother, and continues to dream about stardom. On a nightly basis Arthur and his mother cozy up in front of the television to watch a late-night talk show, hosted by Murray Franklin (Robert DeNiro). For a brief moment he’s able to escape reality and imagines himself on Franklin’s show.
Joker serves as an origin story yet unlike other comic-book films that trudge through the generic track, Philips seats his characters as isolated figures. Figures summoned by the system and then forsaken. As Arthur meets weekly with a social worker who fills his prescriptions, the system becomes depleted and once again he is left to fend for himself. His descent into complete madness and lunacy begins.
Riotous jolts of action are few and far between in the film, instead a slow decay and an uneasy burn. Unlike Jack Nicholson’s Joker, full of pompous flair, or even Heath Ledger’s criminally diabolical clown, Phoenix’s portrayal is purely his own. His metamorphic transformation both physically and mentally is astonishing to watch. His preparation for this role must have been agonizing even for such an exceptional actor. After witnessing Phoenix’s performance, I can easily say that this representation of Joker/Arthur is the most profound. Ledger had the moxie and swag, but Phoenix elevates to another level that actually shows the thin line between humanity and insanity. His movements are intense and precise. The way he walks, shuffles, stretches, sits and smokes. Some scenes show an overwhelming figure, while in others he shrinks. Remove the backdrop of Gotham and other “Batman” nuances and you’ll notice that you could be watching a film profiling a deranged serial killer.
Atmospherically the film shows how Gotham corrodes into a slum. Philips uses the raw and gritty backdrop as a nod to the 1976 masterpiece Taxi Driver. Accompanied by the mournful and harrowing cello score, you can truly feel the despair of Gotham. The city itself is not just in decline but so are the norms of society. Empathy, sympathy, and just general human decency are not to be found here. Gotham is a jungle and its people are pure animals.
It will be interesting to see how this film fits into canon and lore, or even if there will be a continuation of Todd Philip’s delivery. Joker does feature some elements from source material, but it boldly stands alone compared to what the rest of the DC universe churns out.