Joker by Joaquin Phoenix- An Utter Justification of Legendary Villain[Movie Review]
You can’t compare two epic performances. It’s not a Heath ledger’s Joker. It is certainly an another level of acting that never existed.
Spoiler Alert
Would you judge me if I say I find Joker extremely relatable and I kind of agree with his actions?
Well, I’ll try to review this movie avoiding my inclination towards joker ;-).
If you haven’t watched it please go and watch it…the movie won't’ stop with “The End”…It’ll keep running in your mind.
I was waiting for the movie since the teaser was launched.
When I first saw Joker in The Dark Knight Rises, it was the first time I felt a villain in my core.
And after 11 years I got to see him on the big screen again. (Ignoring Suicide Squads Joker, if you know what I mean)
After Heath Ledger, it was quite a challenge to bring something that audience can’t expect.
And,
Oh my god,
Joaquin Phoenix beat the shit out of that character and brought it to another level.
Now people will talk about Heath Ledger AND Joaquin Phonix. (Not a comparison)
The movie starts with Arthur Fleck trying to make his face to make a smile by stretching his lips with tears coming out of his eyes.
The depiction of his loneliness in the crowd and trying hard to fit in and seeking connection in the society of Gotham City is just marvelous.
It sends the message that Arthur is not the bad person he is just trying hard to fit among them and trying to adopt the “opinionated society” which he did not find relatable.
Living with his mother, taking care of her medicine, dealing with his ‘psychiatric problem’, facing bullying in work and in the outside world and above all, to handle burning anxiety due to all this he has to laugh, that is ‘medically prescribed’1.
God, such a heart aching picturization of his life will make you angry and sad at the same time.
The story takes a dramatic twist when he got to know that Thomas Wayne (Father of Bruce Wayne) is his biological father.
WTF….Yep, you’ll find that Batman is Joker’s brother.
Don’t worry he is not.
Joker was adopted and the “mental sickness” he was dealing with; because of his abusive father and coward mother, that eventually made him kill his mother while she was in a medical bed, sleeping.
Horrifying. Isn’t it?
The movie moves towards the end when the clown face of Joker starts inspiring people to take actions in their hands to deal with the crippling situation of Gotham.
And then Arthur realizes that all his life when he was wondering about his existence, finally sees it, in the people.
This movie will make you see what an average person who barely exists in someone’s life goes through…when other “sophisticated good people” don’t act as a responsible citizen.
You will learn that
It takes few “fake good people” to make an “intimidating villain”.
A section from the Bangkok Post article that will give you chill-
“Forever alone in a crowd, failed comedian Arthur Fleck seeks connection as he walks the streets of Gotham City. Arthur wears two masks — the one he paints for his day job as a clown, and the guise he projects in a futile attempt to feel like he’s part of the world around him. Isolated, bullied and disregarded by society, Fleck begins a slow descent into madness as he transforms into the criminal mastermind known as The Joker.”
The Joker has already won the Golden Lion award at Venice Film Festival and I’m hoping that it will achieve many more accolades in the future.
IMDB Rating for the movie is 9.2/10
And I’ll give it 9.7/10…(Saving my 0.3 for something more epic than this.)
I’ll leave you with this background song that somehow relates to The Joker or me or you.
Something to think about!
I've been a puppet, a pauper, a pirate
A poet, a pawn and a king
I've been up and down and over and out
And I know one thing
Each time I find myself flat on my face
I pick myself up and get back in the race
Watch trailer.
PS- If you are a smoker even a little bit…you might wanna go smoke after the movie.;-).
Have you watched it? Are you gonna watch it? Did you like it?
Share your experience in the comment section…I would love to hear it.
