Joker (movie)

Laideez and zentilmeen, baayz and gayrrlz - there AIN'T NO SPOILERS here. Forever.

Welcome to Joker. Watched on Oct. 12, 2019. Directed by Todd Phillips.

Folks, saw Joker. I mean, really SAW it. A seminal accomplishment in cinema. Recall Taxi Driver with de Niro and The Dark Knight with Heath Ledger? This one harks back to both of them and is those two combined, on steroids. Scarier, intense and an emotional roller coaster. A serious contender with one of the greatest movies made without a doubt in several categories, most of all for actor, director, picture and original soundtrack. Sprinkle on screenplay, soundtrack and cinematography as well. And what a far cry from what you might have thought so far on Joker. Read on for a dissection.

The story: Arthur Fleck is struggling to get by in Gotham City, playing different acts (jobs) and trying to figure out who he is. Then follows a masterful portrayal of the life of the destitute and the injustices they have to go through in a large city with less real largesse than what’s in people’s minds. Train rides sitting in dark and dingy corners, the filth of the ghetto-like apartment complexes matched equally with charming smiles exchanged between inhabitants. The smiles are fresh and full of life in the midst of squalor, providing a contrast between peoples’ outer and inner beings.

In the midst of all this Arthur has his own dreams of leading a better life. He does have a mental disorder; but really...does he? We will not get into his fantasies and dreams but let’s just say he’s like you and me, wishing a better quality of life for him and his kin. And then disappointment strikes. And again. And again. In parallel we discover his disorder of laughter for no reason (or for some reason which we can interpret for ourselves). I can tell you this laughter is scarier than the Taxi Driver’s; it’s the combination of camera work, sound, light and acting that creates the scariness. As Fleck transitions into his Joker self we’re by now living the transformation with him and wishing for things to get better. And they do, depending on what “better” means for you.

Arthur’s experiences, how he responds and becomes Joker is the rest of the story.

My (in)sane musings: I was shocked, surprised, scared and taken aback several times. Especially that mentally deranged laughter; again, is it truly deranged? In the process Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips have created one of the scariest, most enigmatic characters. We also get some history on Arthur Fleck, the origins of Batman which were woven into the story a bit sneakily in my opinion. Sneaky but slick. You see why Arthur is who he is and who Bruce is, and you get why Arthur is Joker. It’s like that story where there cannot be a world without contrast. The lack of contrasts in behavior and action creates nothing. And in the creation of Joker we come close to seeing how one can get sidelined by society, resulting in anarchy of the mind. Joker “doesn’t give a shit” is what I got out of this.

In a metaphorical way Joker is an enactment of Arthur’s mind itself. The mind feels that anarchy is better than the status quo, so let’s make sure we move towards that state. To do so would require a revolution, a movement, a tour de force of action considered by many to be criminal acts. But “who gives a shit” in Gotham? Let’s make them aware that there’s a state beyond what we have, and let’s take action to move Gotham to that state. Hence Joker, Arthur’s alter ego creates a whole lot of jokers. Reminds me of the Bhagavad Gita, the Hindu scripture which defines “sthitha pragnya” as a state of being where you’re taking action without worrying about consequences. Might there be a thin thread connecting these two, separated only by five thousand years?

Different from Jack Nicholson’s projection of the Joker in Batman, this Joker laughs at several things around us. Different from Robert de Niro’s Taxi Driver, this laugh is scarier and to top it, de Niro himself bears witness to this. It’s up to us to figure out what our Joker’s laughing at. I found my inside self laughing at a whole lot of things. And think you will too.

I'm a whopping 8.0/10 for Joker. Hahahahahahahahahahaha...(deep breath)...

hahahahahaha...deep breath...deep breath...hahahahahaha...Put on a happy face, will ya?