As you read this review, my recommendation would be to go to Youtube and search for the song “Smile” (there are several versions, I would recommend Nat King Cole’s) – and listen to it in the background. Playing a part in both the trailer and film Joker (2019), the poignant lyrics (by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons) tells you that,
“If you smile through your fear and sorrow
Smile and maybe tomorrow
You’ll see the sun come shining through
For You.”
even while the beautifully melancholic melody (written by Charlie Chaplin) tells you a wholly different story. . . one of a smiling clown truly hiding a frown. Also look for a special screening of Chaplin’s Modern Times that plays a part in the film – The Tramp playing the clown despite the crippling burden people and society have put on him.
Co-written and directed by Todd Philips (his co-scribe, Scott Silver), Joker is a truly bold choice from the DC Universe. . . basically removing every aspect of a comic book movie (no superheroes, bombastic CGI action, maniacal plots to take over or destroy the world, etc.) and developing a gritty, edgy and very dramatic origin story for one of Batman’s greatest foes.
Etched from those dirt strewn, street violent, vigilante needed films of the 1970s and early 80s – think Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (you will definitely see some echoes) and The King of Comedy (in the story), or William Friedkin’s The French Connection and Michael Winner’s Death Wish (in their depiction of the city streets), as well as neo-noirs (for we follow an unreliable narrator), this early Gotham is like the New York City seen during this era. . . trash piling up due to a lingering strike, many people without jobs, violent gangs roaming above and below ground, and a growing divide between the haves and have nots (the middle class shrinking as the rich thrive and the poor die).
Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a cripplingly lonely man who works for a business that hires out party clowns. Shunned by most of his co-workers (though some pretend to be his friend), most of his human interaction comes from the fact that he takes care of his sickly mother, Penny (Frances Conroy) – who may, or may not, be mentally unhinged (it is really up to the viewer to decide). Their nightly tradition is to tune in to the Murray Franklin Show (Robert De Niro), a live late night talk show that captures the imagination of the fatherless man. Fleck also has his eye on neighbour and young single mother Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz) – hoping that he can win her over and finally have some romance in his life.
Continuously battered by society; young hoodlums, obnoxious businessmen and co-workers trash him, even his social worker – who listens to his troubles and helps him get his medication – is no longer by his side (one of the cuts the city is making to save money). Though he is a proud clown, Fleck is also trying his hand at standup. . . video of a live performance finding its way onto the Murray Franklin Show – where even his beloved late night talk show host takes a few jabs at him.
One of the few branches that reaches through from the Batman universe finds Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) – father of Bruce, throwing his hat into the race for mayor of Gotham City. . . a billionaire claiming that he alone can help rich and poor alike.
Moving at its own unique pace, Phillips immerses us in this flailing world, confident in slowing the tempo as he places us in the mind of this mentally-troubled man. Tuning into a mesmeric, if dark vibration, Joker has a hypnotic tone. . . the story building as we see an often sympathetic man (shunned by society – never believed or truly given a fair shake) slowly devolve into the titular character – a nihilistic violence seeping out of every pore. It is not unfair to say that everything hinges on Joaquin Phoenix (for it feels like he is onscreen for the entire runtime). . . a bold casting choice after Heath Ledger and Jared Leto. Not perhaps the typical look for the character, his emaciated body is only the start, for Phoenix reaches deep into the innate, primary and instinctive recesses of his mind to bring forth a truly awe-inspiring performance. From his uncontrollable (almost painful) laugh – one of his health conditions (but also feels like his deeper self is attempting to break free), to his deliberate dancing (inspired by Ray Bolger’s “The Old Soft Shoe”), every minute detail and measured vocal tone brings the viewer deeper and deeper within the mind of this tragically warped individual.
Juxtaposing Fleck’s actual goal of ‘trying to make people laugh and bring joy to the world’ with the way in which society transforms him into a controversial vigilante symbol (as he follows his exceedingly dark path), this pitch black tale features quite the narrative arc. Not your typical twenty-first century film, it does its own thing, while somehow still finding a few twists that, in the end, tie it nicely to the DC universe.
A rare win for DC (especially when they attempt a dark tone), Joker is a unique slow burner of a big budget entertainment flick. Not for everyone (especially if you are not in the mood to be immersed in mental illness and depression), nonetheless, it is a bold and impressive homage to those gritty anti-establishment movies of the 1970s – revelling in forcing the viewer to decide on the heroes and the villains (each character leaving many a question in that grey milieu – look for initials on a photo late in the movie to further add to your queries). Lastly, the music must also be mentioned – subtly setting the mood, Hildur Guðnadóttir actually wrote the score before the film (so that it would inspire Phillips – a technique used by Sergio Leone). I leave you with two Frank Sinatra songs that are heard along the way, for we learn that “That’s Life” for poor Arthur Fleck. . . at least that’s what people say, and, by way of such tragic circumstances, you will most definitely see them “Send In The Clowns”.