Joker

By: Anton Massopust III

“When you bring me out, could you introduce me as the Joker?”

Joaquin Phoenix brings a new twist on an old character in “Joker”. 

Just when you think that things will be the same, they’re not. The character of the Joker has been done many times on screen. He appeared in “Batman: The Animated Series” voiced by Mark Hamill. He was portrayed in the Batman TV series with Adam West by Caesar Romero. Jack Nicholson portrayed him with Michael Keaton in the 1989 Batman film. And don’t forget Christian Bale’s Batman and the Oscar-winning performance by Heath Ledger in 2008 The Dark Knight.

“Joker” concentrates more on the psychological aspect of what makes the Joker tick. The Joker’s, Arthur Fleck, a man who is destitute and can’t even get the medication that he needs to keep his life stable. He lives in a crummy apartment in Gotham City with his mother, Penny Fleck. A garbage strike is crippling the city, and he just wants to try to make other people laugh. Arthur works as a clown who at the beginning of the film is standing in front of a store with a going-out-of-business sign. He is mugged. A fellow clown gives him a gun in order to protect himself, but he brings it to a kid’s party in a hospital and it accidentally falls out of his pants. Because of this, he is fired from his job. Arthur then finds out a lot of things about his life as if he   is pulling out thread and his life just slowly begins to unravel. He’s obsessed with a late-night television talk show host Murry Franklin (Robert De Niro). Arthur’s big dream is to be a standup comedian. He gets his big break on the Murry Franklin Show after an open mic night at a club.

Batman does not appear in “Joker”. (Bruce Wayne is 8 years old) The story is well done, and I especially love the grittiness and dirtiness of Gotham City which is sort of told in the mid-seventies and early eighties.   

The soundtrack is reminiscent of the music that was used in the TV mini-series “Chernobyl”. When you leave the theater, you will still hear that music echoing in your ears. The cast is first-rate, and Joaquin Phoenix is sure to get an Oscar nomination.

“Joker” is nothing like anything I’ve ever seen before. Be warned: “Joker” is not for children. The film is intensely violent, but not in a graphic way – just a quick terrible violence as Arthur slowly evolves into the person we know of today. This is an adult comic book movie that is a serious drama about the psyche of a man and how he falls apart because of terrible circumstances and the hand that he is dealt. Mental illness is no joke, but at least Joker talks about some of the terrible things that happen to people who are mentally ill and are too afraid to seek treatment. Should you see the movie? Yes, it’s one movie you’ll be sure to talk about after seeing.