Finally saw Joker... twice. There is a lot to unpack here. Because the thread title advices against spoilers, I WON'T put anything in spoiler tags. Mods are welcome to override that decision if they deem fit.
The first thing I wanted to tackle was the whole mental health issue. First, I think it is grossly unfair to the film to distill it down to a commentary about mental health. I see it as oversimplistic as saying John Wick goes on a rampage, because they killed his dog. Just like Wick is really about a man dealing with grief, Joker is about a man who feels he ran out of options. Second, I read an article that criticized the movie for misrepresenting people with mental illness as violent, that most are victims rather than perpetrators of violence and my only question to them is... Did they see the movie? Arthur is the recipient of physical, verbal and economic violence throughout the film. Even if we can excuse it as minor, like when he tells his mom that he's going to be a stand-up comedian and she says, "Don't you have to be funny to do that?" Thirdly, Arthur is NOT mentally ill. His problems aren't psychological, they are physiological. Like UT Texas shooter, Charles Whitman. People think he was another crazed gun man, but his autopsy showed he had a brain tumor. Likewise, we can argue, Arthur's mental issues weren't due to psychological trauma, but due to the physical abuse he suffered as a kid. The beatings, blows to his head, malnurishment, all of those physically damaged his brain. His mother, on the other hand, was clearly ill.
Now, the movie itself. It is a beautiful movie. Very technically competent. The direction, the acting, cinematography, lighting, score... impeccable. The color and filter choice are great too. The way they framed Joaquin Phoenix, the way he would stare at people, like his case worker, were unsettling. Joker takes current concerns of income inequality and places them safely in a period piece as it clearly takes place in the 70s. One review I watched called it Taxi Driver as a Joker movie and I think that is a fair assessment, but not quite. Again, Taxi Driver was a product of its time, Joker is an homage to that time with current social comentary, best exemplified with Thomas Waynes clown comments. That is a clear jab at Hillary Clinton calling Trumpsters "deplorables." Not to mention the "Kill the Rich" signs during the protests.
Arthur's transformation is reminescent of The Killing Joke, he even tells his love interest at one point, "I had a really bad day." What I find key is when, due to budget cuts, he no longer has access to his meds and stops taking them. He tells his coworkers ever since he stopped taking them he feels great. This reminded me of when I worked in the behavioral health clinic and many patients flat out REFUSED to take Trazadone, an anti-psychotic, because it zonked them out. I could relate to his emotional honesty. Not feeling bad for fighting back or the death of his mother. While VERY different circumstances, when my grandmother died and my aunt's neighbors came over and said, "I'm sorry for your loss." I said, "Don't be, she was old, she's finally resting." They looked back at me in shock, but I was just being honest, I wasn't sad, why pretend? Him finally feeling liberated, living life his way? Oh I know how sweet that can be too.
I also like how he felt truly himself in his clown make-up. There's been countless research done on how putting on masks, disguises, is liberating. Halloween, BDSM, cross-dressers, etc. I also got the feeling Phoenix played Joker slightly effeminate, particularly while on DeNiro's talk show. The way he hung on to "Murrayyy," his body language, etc. I'm not going to read too much into that though, just an observation.
I loved how, as though a shout out to Dark Knight's Joker, he is non-political, doesn't stand for anything and revels in the chaos his actions brought forth. Oh, and as a wink, wink, nudge, nudge to DK as well, when DeNiro asks him, "Did you want to become a symbol?" He says no.
My only knock on the movie, while I was watching it the first time I felt something was slightly off, but couldn't put my finger on it. Then, on watching a second time with my GF it wasn't until she said, "So those riots kinda came out of nowhere, huh? Dude shoots three guys and the city goes into full riot mode? OK!" That's when it hit me, the movie does little to really build the tension that GOTHAM, not just Arthur, is hurting. All we get are a few clips of Thomas Wayne talking down to the city, but aside from that there's nothing there. We are to assume that the way Arthur is treated is how the whole city is being treated, but they've already established he's a unique case. He's mentally ill, makes little to know money, he is constantly abused, talked down to and berrated by kids, strangers, his mom, boss, coworkers, etc. Unless ALL of Gotham is a mentally ill part time party clown who gets kicked around in alleys and subways, Arthur is NOT the best example of what Gotham is going through. Wayne and Arthur are extremes, what about the folks in the middle? What are they going through. So unless I missed it in two viewings, it isn't there.
The ending is perfect. I seriously cannot get enough of it, genius really.
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