Joker

Yes, it's basically trivial and in surprisingly many ways less sophisticated than it looks (apart from idea with laughter and the final “relativization"). Yes, its quoting/following of Scorsese’s examples in the form of Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy is too obvious and consistent to be considered a plus. It's not surprising in terms of its course or outcome. At the same time, however, it is undeniable that what Sher can do with the camera, Guðnadóttir with the droning (non-)music and especially Arthur Fle ... Um, Joke ... Um, Phoenix, together make a film that is disturbing, gets under your skin and won´t fade away when movie is over. Even without an apologetic excuse “in the context of a comic-book movie". Which means a lot. (2019-10-05)

It is precisely for this dark dimension and fateful depth that I generally like DC characters more than the brightly colored Marvel ones. Todd Phillips’ Joker is a stylish, psychologically well-conceived drama with a great acting performance by Phoenix that satisfactorily explains the birth of an important comic book character in the Batman universe, as it reveals the causes of the character’s deepening anxiety, leading to his total rejection of belief in anything good, and his logical self-realization in his revolutionary leadership of the disgruntled resistance against higher society. The film is a pop-culture vision of Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and is well connected to the origin of Batman both in its screenplay and atmosphere, with the typical Batman-like darkness. I won’t give this the full five stars because the film’s climax was neither surprising nor extraordinary – I was expecting, but I had hoped it wouldn’t be the “biggest” thing that the film would bring. (2019-10-03)

A return to The Dark Knight in full glory. I haven't seen such a brutally depressing film in a really long time. Gotham is a city where no one would want to live, with the possible exception ofsome extras someone would pay to do so. At the same time, however, it is perfectly emulating what is probably supposed to be the1970s and is based on the equally beautifully gloomy New York. It’s giving off an incredibly powerful old-school feel, which is why, together with the practically perfect performance of Joaquin Phoenix and no less great music, it creates an absolutely epic atmosphere that has not been seen in similar films for a really long time. I like the way the character Joker is portrayed so that he is neither good nor bad. He has his issues and bad traits but also positive traits and an effort to create a better world… until he loses his marbles. Joaquin Phoenix was given free rein here, and this time I liked his performance immensely. It’s true that he plays one weirdo after another, but Joker is a phenomenon who has both a light and a dark side. So even though I wasn’t exactly rooting for him the entire film, my eyes were glued to the screen in every scene. Some scenes expressing human madness, evil or anarchy belong among the best I’ve ever seen. I won’t hesitate to say that it’s the highest level of filmmaking craft and an experience I will be processing for a long time. Who are we as people? Hasn’t Joker been born out of all the grief and evil we keep inside and try to not let it out so we don’t go crazy? (2019-10-16)

As a part of DC good, very good actually. As a human transition drama, rather average. The movie failed to excite me. I felt like I was always waiting for something while watching it, and in the end I didn't get it. It felt like there was something more to come, a climax, because for me the movie just didn't have a climax. What was the point of the movie? The transformation into the Joker? The situation in the city that helped in the transformation? Did it really help? The film just feels incomplete to me. Sure, Joaquin was good, he lost weight nicely for it, he did a great dance when he was alone on set and drinking it in, so it was fine. Once someone else was there, it almost felt like he was blending into the background. To me, a perfectly ordinary film that didn't really bring anything new to the table except that it wanted to show us how the Joker was born, but is that really necessary with this character? Do we need to "understand" him? (2019-10-04)

I did not welcome this origin story with any enthusiasm when I first heard about it, because the fog of mystery surrounding The Joker has always fascinated me, a fog none of the theories about his origin can ever fully penetrate. That's why Todd Phillips's dream project is acceptable just the way it was originally intended: as a standalone story separate from conceivable sequels or spin-offs, a direction that the film itself denies by circling around Bruce Wayne. It is not the approach of delving so deeply into the antagonist's skin that I consider that groundbreaking, to the extent that it is impossible to sympathize with him at least to any significant degree in the specific episodes or timeframes, but instead it is Joaquin Phoenix's immersion in the character á la the Confessions of a Clown. It is extremely difficult to take your eyes off him, despite intentional physical discomforts (emaciation, laughter), which makes this an almost masochistic spectacle. (2019-10-10)