Joker

At many points in our lives, we would have definitely come across people with mental illness, whether it's on the streets, the sidewalks, hospitals, in our own family or be it ourselves even. During those instances, one can't help but think: "What would have happened in this person's life that led him / her directly into this moment?". And Joker is a film that opens that small window to show us exactly that - the spiralling descent of a troubled individual into insanity aided across the path by the horrible society he's living in. The irony is, if this was real life, we would have easily disregarded it, which is one of the major truth put forth by the motion picture itself. But now, guess who's paying to see it on the big screens?

Joker is an extremely sad story. We follow Arthur Fleck, a clown-for-hire who is without a doubt suffering from mental disorder. Hints permeate from the background, from the very beginning, that the city's on heat. It's turning or has become a rat-infested, recession-laden garbage. In midst of this, we see our protagonist trying to get by his day-to-day struggle. He's bullied on almost everyday basis. He's told to his face that he's a freak at every corner. He has a sick mother to take care of. He's betrayed by colleagues at work, fired from his only job, abandoned by a free social therapist service and loses his medicine supply. Just when you think he has a girl who cares for him, the plot chooses to reveal what has been his delusion all along.

The best aspect of the writing comes in the form of Arthur's peculiar condition of sudden, frequent and uncontrollable laughter. Whenever this condition acts up at wrong times, terrific scenes are often the results, with profound example being Arthur's first stand-up comedy attempt at a night club. The sight of him grappling back and forth with his condition to actually emerge and present his jokes to the crowd while holding a washed out notebook for reference is the single most heartbreaking sight Todd Phillips' Joker offers! Speaking of heartbreaking, this is precisely it. Despite everything that's going wrong in his life, Arthur had a dream, just like you and me. To see him marching towards it, failing at it and humiliated by his idol on live television, it's impossible to not weep aloud. Once again, it's too sad, pitiful and heartbreaking!

The plot presents a disguised opportunity that Arthur could be Thomas Wayne's (Brett Cullen) son. Even if it's a temporary lie, this welcomes all sorts of questions and possibilities, such as how things would have been different if Arthur grew up eating from the same plate as Bruce Wayne (Dante Pereira-Olson) does. There's a beautiful scene where both of these characters stand facing each other with the mansion gate separating them that illustrates that very point. But eventually, Arthur has to learn he's a nobody before he could become somebody; the persona he has always been; the alter ego he has been told to suppress every goddamn time - Joker. The writing has a steady progression, both in terms of Arthur's transformation and the padding societal changes happening simultaneously around him. Only if the murder he commits on the train are of people of importance such as Gotham's politicians or rich influencers, the incident would have been a much stronger and convincing inspiration for the oppressed to riot. Also, the movie could have ended on the streets as Joker extends a smile from his blood and embrace his acceptance into the society, but God forbid you cannot show a criminal walking scot free even in cinema that you have to unnecessarily extend the runtime by a couple more minutes to display he's locked up in an asylum. However, the way the ending ties in with Bruce losing his parents in Crime Alley is amazing!

It's almost meaningless to state the obvious, but the whole world already know what sort of a masterclass actor Joaquin Phoenix is and will always be! To deliver a performance of this calibre, one cannot just pretend. You look at the thespian and you could tell he's holding an entire depression behind a mental dam that prevents it from flooding out. And to achieve this, simply imagine the magnitude of mental homework that transpired behind the scenes, on top of the strenuous physical preparation it took to embody this iconic role of a lifetime! There are very few actors in this world who are born for the job, and Phoenix has proven time and time again that he is on this whole new league since forever!

Majority of the dialogues are quotable! Hildur Guðnadóttir's score is great! Lawrence Sher's gorgeous cinematography has the precise colour palette to match the bleakness and sadness the film harnesses. Before we forget to mention some of the most memorable scenes this celluloid has in store, Arthur stabbing his co-worker Randall (Glenn Fleshler), smothering his foster mother under a pillow, confronting Thomas Wayne before being punched right on the face, subway homicide, stage presence practice for Murray Franklin's (Robert De Niro) show, TV interview shootout climax and the final metamorphosis into Joker as the antihero dances his way on the stairs are among the fantastic ones that will stay with you long after leaving the theatre!