Joaquin Pheonix has delivered some amazing performances in his 44 years including “Gladiator”, “Walk the line”, “The Master“, I’m still here” and the brilliant biopic “Don’t worry he won’t get far on foot”, but he has seriously outdone himself with Joker.
Joker is set around 1980 in a semi-apocalyptic Gotham City undergoing citizen unrest due to a garbage strike. Although the strike is evident in the background on the news and visually with the build up of trash and rats on the street, it’s really just compounding a disconnected culture where the disenfranchised and poor are left behind whilst the “suits” rule, in this case by billionaire businessman Thomas Wayne, father of a young Bruce.
Pheonix plays Arthur Fleck, a gentle, mentally ill man who lives with and cares for his mother who harbours a dark secret about her son’s childhood. Arthur takes a lot of medication but is forced to quit due to the government removing their drugs and specialist support for the general public. From here-on is where Arthur slowly transforms into a man who has had enough of the prejudice, violence and disrespect that he confronts every day on the streets of Gotham and predictably strikes back.
The similarities to my favourite movie of all time, Taxi Driver, are obvious and like Taxi Driver the build-up in tension to the crescendo is seamless and engrossing. Ironically it’s the greatest actor of my generation, Robert De niro, the star of Taxi Driver, who plays late show host Murray Franklin and shares a gut wrenching scene with Arthur on live TV when Arthur is invited on as a stand up comedian and appears as The Joker.
There is so much to like about this film. The violence is realistic and brutal but in context and visually it’s actually New York, but seriously seedy and filthy. The detail in the cinematography is extraordinary along with the lighting which creates an ethereal feeling throughout what is in effect, a dark film. Pheonix is supported by a great cast but a big shout out to Frances Conroy who played Arthur’s mother in what must have been a very challenging role.
But there is only one star in Joker. Pheonix is in every scene in the film and stripped 25kg of what was already a pretty lean physique to play The Joker, much like De niro did for Raging Bull in 1980. This is method acting at its finest and has stamped him as one of the great actors of his generation. A compelling performance that will leave you discussing it for a long time afterwards.
Joaquin Pheonix has long been a social activist and you wonder whether this performance had that bit extra punch given the state of affairs under the Trump administration right now. It certainly felt like a metaphor for the state of society not just in America but all around the first world, where the rich get richer and the weak are left to their own devices. Whatever the rationale, this is a superb performance in a visually stunning film. 9.5/10
