|
"Joker" - 4/4
I wasn't excited to see this until I was holding it in my hands. I suppose besides the troubled production history I had no detailed knowledge of it and no clue as to how the plot would be treated or how the story would be adapted this time around.
I feel confident after seeing it in full that this wasn't what anyone could have expected when they went in.
I wasn't expecting to watch an almost Freudian character study with a sympathetic take on a presumed monster. I wasn't expecting to empathise or to agree with any political or social themes but such is the quality of the film that I have to admit that I did start to wonder towards the ending just how easily reality can be twisted into folklore like that.
From the moment the film gets going you know you are watching from Arthur's point of view, everything feels a little bit off. Everything in Arthur's life is like a worse version of reality. You know Gotham is a shithole from Batman, but Arthur's Gotham is even shittier. Arthur gets one broke parent, no millionaires with private butlers here. In fact Arthur's whole life, from the way he is treated as a child to the way he is unsure of everything about himself as an adult until he finally emerges is in direct opposition with the Batman character we all know.
Arthur sees himself as the underdog and it is hard to argue in this film. His neuroses are alive on the screen, visions and versions of events can't be trusted. I was particularly enamoured with the girlfriend fantasy, I thought the way that pitch-perfect and was used to full effect. He's not out to hurt anyone, but he will because he just can't see himself honestly. He is his own unreliable narrator.
Joaquin Phoenix was physically incredible in this role, he could rival Christian Bale for The Machinist with what he does to himself here. Not only is he physically perfect though, he has every idiosyncrasy refined to an unsettling, sea-sick degree. He becomes a nervous, emaciated, misanthropic anti-hero here and in the midst of some truly appalling violence he emerges a just and true champion for those that would follow him into the Gotham of the future.
Some say there are two sides to every story but that seems low to me even just counting Joker's side.
|