Movie Review: Joker

THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

I have never been so broken, watching an anti-hero film but “Joker” has gotten me to really get into my head and retrieved some feelings, thoughts about the movie especially the character. Starring Joaquin Phoenix as the main character named Arthur Fleck, the movie follows a story of a man with a mental illness as he navigates his life, his role in the society and everything around him just falling into pieces. The chaos in his head and the messes he picked up along the way, “Joker” is a movie that once you watched it, you will never think of other comic movies the same way.

As someone who is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and had been to several counsellors for the past years, I totally understood what it felt like to be in Arthur’s shoes. He got the worse than me – he had an unstable psychological condition that causes him to laugh at inappropriate moments. I said, “inappropriate moments”, because he burst into laughter at wrong place, wrong time. Sadly, such mental illnesses and conditions are not tolerated. Even today, I doubt people have any care for such people like Arthur, unless you really have something good to contribute to the community. Arthur is not as fortunate as me, and thus I sympathised with him in all the moments he went through. With the capacity of evoking such thought-provoking insights, this credits to Phoenix whose strong and poignant performance elevated the whole movie. I would describe the performance as intriguing and at times, it was awkward as we see Arthur dances in public places and in the bathroom at such weird timing but still, it was beautifully intriguing and mesmerising to see the character descending into a confident, bold and frightening man. I noted that in the movie, especially when Arthur was dancing in the children hospital, it had this subtle tribute to Charlie Chaplin.

I could not help but to feel heartbroken by the circumstances Arthur was in – being bullied, lied and physically abused. I was frightened to what I saw especially when we, audience found out that his mother was committed to a psychiatric ward and she, as a mother, failed to prevent her son from the trauma he received. No child should ever be in such circumstances and this is where everything made sense – a child is morphed to what he is today because of his upbringing and the role models he is surrounded with in his childhood. In other words, the people around him failed Arthur miserably and that is when you find yourself struggled to accept the consequences, he does is not validly right, but you still wanted to support him. I also relate with Arthur in his psychological, laughing condition. Phoenix captured the pain of struggling, the control over his state very beautifully. It reminded me at times when I felt extremely broken and yet you must keep yourself steady because you know, this is no good.

I also enjoyed the technicality of the movie. It was beautifully filmed in the colours that reminded me a lot of the movies in the 1970s and 80s – brown, green and the hint of blue that accurately captured the mood of the story. The movie was also presented in a character study manner, so it is another newness and freshness that was intriguing to see in the anti-hero universe. The music scoring was artistically remarkable, and it really brought out the emotions, how we felt throughout the movie – sizzling with what is going on and painting the additional colours to the palette of the movie.

In summary, “Joker” is a movie that embarks you on a study of a man who is ruined by the circumstances he was in, as well as the portrait of a society degrading to a manic chaos that we now see in the news so often. It is real – humans are fucking up the society, people are forgetting how to be civil to one another and yet with such real message of the depictions of upheaval and the unseen people like Arthur, this is generating some social commentary because of the violence depicted in the movie. Personally, a good movie is when you present a story and it is remembered for something either good or bad. People start to talk about the movie and by people, I mean everyone is sharing their thoughts about a character, a storytelling and the overall. Known as controversy, it is a good thing because it shows the society that we aren’t talking much about something and this is what “Joker” is bringing us: a platform to realise that something is not right. It can be anything – system, world or government, rich or poor, any issue. In this case, we are not focusing on the people who are overlooked by society. These people need a voice. Joker/Arthur is a symbol – a voice for anyone who felt let down and needed to a stand.

We need more controversial movies like this to get people thinking.

Ratings: 8/10