Death Note Review

Wowzer. Wow wee. Holy moly guacamole. I just saw Joker and my eyes have been opened like nothing else. Here, we see a perfect blend of psychological horror twisted perfectly with some dark humour and a fresh sprinkling of zesty political commentary.

The film follows the story of "Arthur Fleck," a man who's pretty down on his luck (and that is an understatement). Arthur is afflicted with "pseudobulbar affect" (PSB), a mental illness that causes him to start laughing uncontrollably at random intervals, beyond his control, regardless of whatever situation he's in. Arthur lives in Gotham City, in the 80s, a time before there was any real recognition of the effects of mental health and time were there was a great divide of wealth among classes, leaving people like Arthur at the bottom of the social ladder in terms of finance and standing. Arthur lives alone with his sickly mother, who's his sole responsibility to look after. Arthur dreams of making it big as a stand-up comic as he believes it is his purpose to spread laughter in the world. His current job, working as a rental clown to do all kinds of entertainment odd job isn't ideal, he gets mugged by some kids who steal the sign he is spinning around to advertise a store and then he gets told to pay for it because they don't believe his story. There are no two ways about it, his life sucks.

One day, Arthur dreams to be like his hero, Murray Franklin, a stand-up comedian who has his own late night show right within the heart of the city, he idolizes him and sees him as a father figure where he otherwise doesn't have one.

Things sound pretty bad right? Well wait until the equilibrium gets disturbed, then it all kicks off.

What the movie does well
Joker, for me, is very good at portraying mental illness to the audience that might not have the insights into what it is like for a mentally ill person living. All the decisions Arthur makes are clearly insane to someone who observing from a third-person perspective but the decisions made by Arthur are never questioned, Joaquin Phoenix, who plays Arthur, did a spectacular job of portraying his attitude towards the decisions he makes and every moment his character does and every line his character speaks contributes to the ever-deepening plot within the film. With a series of subplots and different twists and turns, it is refreshing to see Joaquin Phoenix take everything in his stride and it is apparent in the work that a lot of time and effort went into making sure that the character he portrayed was done the justice it deserved.

There are parallels to the Joker performance given by Heath Ledger but they are quite thin. In all honesty, the Joker played by Joaquin Phoenix is it's own character and even with no background knowledge of comic books and superhero films, it is shot and edited to be an amazing stand-alone film. I think it is very much capable of winning the Oscar.