Joker (2019)

The latest entry into the ever-expanding DC Universe, this film draws together all previously published material on the Joker - perhaps the most well-known of all Batman villains, yet the least understood - such as The Killing Joke, The Dark Knight Returns, and many other appearances from the comics, and gives us a complete insight into the origins of the notorious villain.

Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) lives with his mother Penny (Frances Conroy) in a seedy apartment building on the outskirts of Gotham City. During the day, he works for an agency called HaHas as a clown-for-hire, and in the evenings, is trying to start a career in stand-up comedy.

For a long time, he has struggled with mental illness, including a nervous condition that causes him to laugh at odd moments, which has caused him a great deal of embarrassment as it usually happens at the worst times.

His dream is to eventually be recognised by one of his heroes, late-night talk show host, Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), whose show he watches every night with his mother.

Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) getting into character for his day job.

Of course, Gotham City is not one of the most pleasant places in the world to live. The streets are full of crime, and local businessman Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) has recently announced he will be running for the office of Mayor, to try and clean up the streets of Gotham, and close the gap between rich and poor as much as he can.

One night, while going home on the train, Arthur sees three obnoxious businessmen harassing a young woman. With no one else in the carriage, she looks to Arthur for support, but his nervousness takes over, and all he can do is laugh (he doesn’t think it’s funny, but he can’t stop himself from laughing). When the three men turn their attention to him, things quickly become heated, and Arthur ends up shooting the three of them with a gun he was given by a co-worker in order to protect himself.

Word gets out of this attack, and soon, protestors and activists the city over are taking a stand against the wealthy, and chaos ensues. While all this is going on, Arthur is pursuing a friendship and potential romantic relationship with a neighbour from his building, Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz).

I won’t go any further into the plot here, for fear of spoiling things for others. Of course, if you have read any Joker folklore in some of the aforementioned comics, some of the more significant plot twists may already be known to you, by mere virtue of the mention of particular characters, so I’d best be quiet about those.

Penny Fleck (Frances Conroy) is bathed by her son, Arthur (Joaquin Phoenix).

The screenplay, by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver, is incredibly clever. As I said earlier, it has woven together all previous tales of the Joker, and managed to place them all in one unified narrative in an exceptional way. Even parts of the existing canon that may appear to contradict one another are placed side-by-side in a way that works incredibly well.

Lawrence Sher’s cinematography is truly a wonder to behold. His use of light and dark is fantastic, and his ability to use contrast to its full effect is clear throughout. There are many scenes, particularly on the streets of Gotham, that take place in near-darkness, and every shot is so beautifully framed and captured. The entire film has a very gritty feel visually, which works to convey not only the setting itself, but plenty of character information as well.

The music also conveys the grittiness of Gotham’s streets. Composer Hildur Guðnadóttir uses a fairly traditional scoring and instrumentation, but in unique ways that will unsettle even the most seasoned moviegoer. The soundtrack also features a significant number of popular songs of the era in which the film is set, and most of these are used in an ironic sense (in terms of the lyrics which contrast to the action they correspond to).

The production design, by Mark Friedberg, deserves a mention here, though there isn’t really anything different I can say about it that I haven’t said about the cinematography or the music; everything is incredibly gritty, and incredibly unsettling. We have seen the streets of Gotham City plenty of times before, but we haven’t seen them quite like this.

Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz).

The performances of the cast are absolutely sensational, particularly that of Joaquin Phoenix in the title role. His performance rivals that of the late Heath Ledger in its intensity, and I believe he may very well be in the running for an Academy Award, or at the very least, a nomination. His commitment to the role is also incredible, and he takes the character further than we have seen before.

I feel I ought to warn you that the film is quite violent in places, though these moments are not prolonged, nor are they unnecessary or gratuitous. The fact is, Gotham City is a violent, horrible place, and this film doesn’t shy away from that fact.

Director Todd Phillips has made an amazing film here, one that I even feel I could watch at the cinema for a second time, if for no other reason than to notice some of the things I missed the first time around. I would certainly recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed any previous Joker lore, but even to those for whom this would be the first foray into this fascinating and disturbing character.

9 out of 10.