Joker
POSTED BY: SHINYGOODGUY
UPDATED: Monday, March 30, 2026 18:33
VIEWED: 23054
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NO SPOILERS
Joker is a brilliant masterpiece of film, a masterstroke in storytelling and screenwriting.
Todd Phillips and Scott Silver depicted a story of squalor and despair that was the Joker’s life.
They peel back the layers of how exactly to build a Joker and construct just how a psychopath
Gets born.
Gotham is not a very pleasant place, the streets are philthy, jobs are scarce and hope is something people just talk about. Arthur Fleck is just your average joe who lives with his mom, working to make ends meet, but he has an illness…..that is the premise of the Joker. A man who is just on this side of sanity and walks the tightrope of life, one slip, one step away from madness…...and we get to watch.
It is social commentary, a cautionary tale. Phillips/Silver slowly reveal just what it takes to push a madman close to the edge (and then over it). Their writing is superb, but they don’t tell you in so many words...they show you. It is the way a writer is supposed to write a type of mystery that we all
Know so well. Or, at least, that we think we know. They show us the way, but it’s creepy because it is very close to the real thing. We all know where the rabbit hole leads to because we are just on this side of the real-life version. If Joker were a painting, it would be a Picasso during his Cubist period. Distorted but familiar. Sad but you can’t look away; much like a car accident - we just have to see: did anyone get hurt. This is how Joker lives, on the ugly side of life. But it’s fascinating. It is so well written, not a wasted word or a wasted scene. And, above all, NO preachy dialogue.
It’s as though our writers held up a mirror and said “here ya go!” I really can’t put it in words. I cannot do it justice, because I’m making it sound melodramatic. It really is NOT that. Some may decide not to go see it. I could understand that, but if you’re an amateur movie buff, or just plain love the movies and what it could ideally be, you owe it to yourself to go see this deeply satisfying piece of art. Where would we be without Picasso, Rembrandt and Kubrick and Shakespeare.
Joaquin Phoenix is an acting genius, a savant in this film. He took Phillips words and breathed life into the Joker like no other before him. Both he and Phillips went down a completely different path than previous iterations of this character. Joaquin took the Picasso and set it in motion, each movement, each word brought new meaning to the character. We as the audience wanted to know more, and with each scene, with each movement and word we were rewarded. The writing and the performance by Joaquin waltzed together in perfect maddening harmony. The pacing in this two hour movie, it was as though they came into the theater and brought us to our seats, put our feet up and said: “No hurry, get comfortable, you’ll see, it will all pay off.” But it’s not so much the destination, as it is the journey. The music/soundtrack too, reminded me of Kubrick/Tarantino. Each piece, each entry, each selection carefully chosen and perfectly matched. Yes, I dare say that Heath Ledger would applaud Joaquin’s efforts. Both he and Phillips took Joker down a whole new path. Kubrick and Quentin would smile appreciatively.
It left me inspired and hopeful that the end 2019, at least film-wise, looks to be salvageable.
The Best Film of The Year. 5 Stars
sgg
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I can't argue any of that.
I've become so jaded that I didn't believe that Hollywood was even capable of putting a film like this out anymore. Not only was it the best comic book movie that likely will ever exist, but if one was being honest with themselves they'd be hard pressed to find another movie of any genre that was better than Joker.
Maybe I'm just still "high" off of it, and it wasn't as good as it "felt"? This is a possibility. Watching it was grueling. My first words to my old man when it finally ended were "I'm exhausted". I felt like I had just come out of the gym after a great workout... and I think my entire body had been tensed up for so long that this wasn't all that far from the truth. Sitting through it was the definition of uncomfortable. Yet at the same time, it was the least violent Batman universe flick ever made. There might have been less gore in other Batman movies, but the death count was extremely low by comparison. But they were powerful... probably because of that fact.
Maybe Phoenix's performance deserves all of the credit? It is the single most amazing acting performance I've ever seen in my life, and there is no second place that is even remotely close. I said in another thread that I hope he's seeking out the psychiatric help to remove himself from the character of Arthur Fleck after what happened to Heath Ledger. I don't see how it would be possible to put on a performance like that and not have that be a part of you long afterward.
If it were a lesser film, I would say that my favorite thing about the movie was the laughing at the SJW critic idiots that hadn't even seen it freaking out about it and calling it right wing propaganda designed for incels... or laughing even harder at those who had seen it and said "the critics that give it a fresh rating will have blood on their hands".
But no... That wasn't my favorite thing at all. The movie was just so good that I didn't even give that a thought until well after a day later.
All of that being said, I am finding it quite hard to recommend it to anybody. I mean, I have and will continue to do so... but I warn them that it is not a feel good movie and they might not enjoy the experience. But if you're up for it, it's one hell of a ride.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Quote:
If Joker were a painting, it would be a Picasso during his Cubist period. Distorted but familiar. Sad but you can’t look away; much like a car accident - we just have to see: did anyone get hurt. This is how Joker lives, on the ugly side of life. But it’s fascinating. It is so well written, not a wasted word or a wasted scene. And, above all, NO preachy dialogue
IDK if you read this from a posted movie review, or these are your own words, but I think this perfectly describes Joker.
Bravo.
Completely agree.
( I may have to borrow this description, giving you full credit, of course )
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No Rappy, I did not take this from any review. I purposefully did not see a review, trailer or comment regarding this movie.
My words exclusively, period.
The only exposure I had were the hype coming from celebrities comments on TV, some radio and that's about it. I wanted to go into it, the film, totally fresh and without prejudice. So my thoughts, well the ones I could articulate,
are front and center. There is so much to this film that it would take a long
conversation to unwrap the genius and absolute brilliance. Joker was a near
perfect convergence of artistic elements - sound, writing, direction, acting
and visuals. The cinematography and the score are beautiful in so that they are part of the landscape of the film, only overshadowed by Phoenix's portrayal.
I am still digesting what I saw some 3 days after the fact. I will be going back, maybe next weekend - it was that good; did I say good, I meant great.
The best of the year, 2019, and taking a place among my all-time Top Ten.
And notice, I say film rather than movie. To me, a film is art. A movie is, well, less so. A movie entertains, a film envelops the soul, much like those
classic painters and filmmakers I mention. But thank you for the compliment,
true inspiration comes from films like this.
sgg
Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:Quote:
If Joker were a painting, it would be a Picasso during his Cubist period. Distorted but familiar. Sad but you can’t look away; much like a car accident - we just have to see: did anyone get hurt. This is how Joker lives, on the ugly side of life. But it’s fascinating. It is so well written, not a wasted word or a wasted scene. And, above all, NO preachy dialogue
IDK if you read this from a posted movie review, or these are your own words, but I think this perfectly describes Joker.
Bravo.
Completely agree.
( I may have to borrow this description, giving you full credit, of course )
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I'm glad you went to see it. There's so much to say about this film, but I think you touched upon a handful of key elements regarding this film. It is, above all else, an experience. I too had that "feeling" at the end, the one where you just can't quite leave without having someone to talk to and say...
"Wow! what did you think?" You had your dad, so I hope you were able to discuss it.
Here it is 3 days later and I'm still feeling that "high" - it is the emotion of what I identified with in the film. It was how Arthur felt. We, the audience, could identify with it because, at some point, we felt as he did.
But, there's a twist, because Arthur had brain damage and took things further
once he was "pushed" over the edge.
I agree that the commentary never got in the way and spoil the film; and there was social commentary. Much like a good sci-fi film that slips in a sort of
lesson about life on earth. The good ones slide that in, the great ones never let you see the man behind the curtain. That's why I say it was NOT preachy in any way. That's the task of a good writer, to tell a story that has meaning.
But I agree, this film is far too great to lessen it by talking about politics. To put it bluntly, this was a fucking great film. And yes, I put it in my Top Ten All Time. I will see it again, maybe next week, it's that great.
sgg
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I can't argue any of that.
I've become so jaded that I didn't believe that Hollywood was even capable of putting a film like this out anymore. Not only was it the best comic book movie that likely will ever exist, but if one was being honest with themselves they'd be hard pressed to find another movie of any genre that was better than Joker.
Maybe I'm just still "high" off of it, and it wasn't as good as it "felt"? This is a possibility. Watching it was grueling. My first words to my old man when it finally ended were "I'm exhausted". I felt like I had just come out of the gym after a great workout... and I think my entire body had been tensed up for so long that this wasn't all that far from the truth. Sitting through it was the definition of uncomfortable. Yet at the same time, it was the least violent Batman universe flick ever made. There might have been less gore in other Batman movies, but the death count was extremely low by comparison. But they were powerful... probably because of that fact.
Maybe Phoenix's performance deserves all of the credit? It is the single most amazing acting performance I've ever seen in my life, and there is no second place that is even remotely close. I said in another thread that I hope he's seeking out the psychiatric help to remove himself from the character of Arthur Fleck after what happened to Heath Ledger. I don't see how it would be possible to put on a performance like that and not have that be a part of you long afterward.
If it were a lesser film, I would say that my favorite thing about the movie was the laughing at the SJW critic idiots that hadn't even seen it freaking out about it and calling it right wing propaganda designed for incels... or laughing even harder at those who had seen it and said "the critics that give it a fresh rating will have blood on their hands".
But no... That wasn't my favorite thing at all. The movie was just so good that I didn't even give that a thought until well after a day later.
All of that being said, I am finding it quite hard to recommend it to anybody. I mean, I have and will continue to do so... but I warn them that it is not a feel good movie and they might not enjoy the experience. But if you're up for it, it's one hell of a ride.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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( I may have to borrow this description, giving you full credit, of course )
Hey Rappy,
Somehow I thought you would like this film. I have no problem with you borrowing my comments.
sgg
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Quote:
Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:
I'm glad you went to see it. There's so much to say about this film, but I think you touched upon a handful of key elements regarding this film. It is, above all else, an experience. I too had that "feeling" at the end, the one where you just can't quite leave without having someone to talk to and say...
"Wow! what did you think?" You had your dad, so I hope you were able to discuss it.
Here it is 3 days later and I'm still feeling that "high" - it is the emotion of what I identified with in the film. It was how Arthur felt. We, the audience, could identify with it because, at some point, we felt as he did.
But, there's a twist, because Arthur had brain damage and took things further
once he was "pushed" over the edge.
I agree that the commentary never got in the way and spoil the film; and there was social commentary. Much like a good sci-fi film that slips in a sort of
lesson about life on earth. The good ones slide that in, the great ones never let you see the man behind the curtain. That's why I say it was NOT preachy in any way. That's the task of a good writer, to tell a story that has meaning.
But I agree, this film is far too great to lessen it by talking about politics. To put it bluntly, this was a fucking great film. And yes, I put it in my Top Ten All Time. I will see it again, maybe next week, it's that great.
sgg
I do like your choice to call it a "film", rather than a movie. Although I think it's even more than that.
I took a Film class in college, and the "films" they had us watch were your usual fare like Citizen Kane and 2001: A Space Odyssey. To me, those are "Films". Outdated bullshit that intellectuals pretend to love while they're smelling their own farts and talking down to people who "just don't get it".
Joker was an experience. It was an event.
I can't even say it was "emotional" for me. It wasn't exactly emotions that I was feeling. I didn't feel sadness for his character, or more accurately, I didn't feel any more than a normal person would. I didn't feel "cringe" for him during parts that would normally have made me feel the cringe, like when he was failing miserably at the stand up comedy.
I was too wrapped up in whatever guttural, instinctual "feelings" that were turning me inside out while experiencing this, this... masterpiece of a performance.
Yet, days later and I still don't know if it was a good movie or not.
It was an amazing experience. I'm so glad I saw it in a theater and did not just watch it on a small screen alone on Netflix months or years from now.
I think what made it even better was that I saw it in one of those old-timey small theaters with only two screens that still have the red curtains and the smell that old theaters have. Something about that really resonated with me during the scene where he put on the usher uniform and all of the rich people were watching some old black and white movie. (I really loved constant anachronisms in the movie... Rich people dressing up in their best to go see what I think was a Charlie Chaplin movie, along side of cars from the 60's outside of the theater and an answering machine in Arthur's apartment... very cool).
I wish the theaters weren't so expensive now that I'm back up here. If I was living down by my brother already I'm sure I would go and see it at that theater a few more times.
In the mean time, I don't think I'm going to be able to separate the feelings from the movie itself after only one viewing. It's going to take at least one if not quite a few more for me to actually wrap my head around it and get beyond Phoenix's performance.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
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Spot on. Joker is a film. Not a ' movie '
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First, good to hear from you SGG. Thanks for the excellent review. I haven't seen it yet but it looks like a dazzler.
T 
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Quote:It is also an example of Joker running amok. Amok is a Malay word for the homicidal sprees occasionally undertaken by lonely Indochinese men who have suffered a loss of love, a loss of money, or a loss of face. The syndrome has been described in a culture even more remote from the West: the stone-age foragers of Papua New Guinea.
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Joker was an experience. It was an event.
The amok man is patently out of his mind, an automaton oblivious to his surroundings and unreachable by appeals or threats. But his rampage is preceded by lengthy brooding over failure, and is carefully planned as a means of deliverance from an unbearable situation. The amok state is chillingly cognitive. It is triggered not by a stimulus, not by a tumor, not by a random spurt of brain chemicals, but by an idea. The idea is so standard that the following summary of the amok mind-set, composed in 1968 by a psychiatrist who had interviewed seven hospitalized amoks in Papua New Guinea, is an apt description of the thoughts of mass murderers continents and decades away:
I am not an important or "big man." I possess only my personal sense of dignity. My life has been reduced to nothing by an intolerable insult. Therefore, I have nothing to lose except my life, which is nothing, so I trade my life for yours, as your life is favoured. The exchange is in my favour, so I shall not only kill you, but I shall kill many of you, and at the same time rehabilitate myself in the eyes of the group of which I am a member, even though I might be killed in the process.
The amok syndrome is an extreme instance of the puzzle of the human emotions. Exotic at first glance, upon scrutiny they turn out to be universal; quintessentially irrational, they are tightly interwoven with abstract thought and have a cold logic of their own.
More at https://bit.ly/32IqISS
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly
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