Joker (MOVIE: 2019) directed by Todd Phillips

The Official Movie Poster to Joker

Joker
Directed by Todd Phillips
2019
Notable Actors: Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, Robert de Niro as Murray Franklin and Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

SPOILERS.
I needed to take a full day after seeing this movie yesterday to really process what I had seen. The entirety of the movie I felt uncomfortable, not because of the graphicness of the movie (it's tame considering its Joker.) and the fact that Joker is mentally ill does not necessarily make me uncomfortable. I think the point of the feeling I had in the movie was to understand and relate to the uncomfortableness Arthur feels in society in relation to his thought and you are suppose to be empathetic to him in a way. I'll go more into the thoughts and feelings behind why I rated this high but not the best movie I have seen.

The beginning of a raving lunatic

The movie begins around the late 70s to early 80s with one Arthur Fleck. He is a party clown for a down and out Rent-a-Clown, living in the slums of Gotham with his mother, Penny. Arthur has been committed in the mental institution and sees a social worker who is trying to help him adapt, however as with many social services and in a time when mental illness wasn't taken care of the way it is, Arthur falls victim to the system. 

Arthur also has trouble with mental illness by having a neurological laughing disorder that causes him to laugh even though he is unhappy and otherwise disturbed. The social services do assist with providing him medication and it tries to curb his psychosis. Arthur also gets beat up on the job which isn't shocking in the crime rampant city. This causes his co-worker to give him a gun to protect himself. Arthur, feeling now in control of his life, has a gun, starts dating his neighbor Sophie and also starts his stand-up comedy act at a club called "Pogo's".

I can only imagine what his internal screaming sounds like

Arthur then has a giant slump in life. He is fired for having a gun at a gig in a children's hospital and is beaten up in the subway by 3 Wayne Enterprise men, who he pretty much kills all of them. (It's actually kind of funny that the third one was shot in the ass first. HAHAHA.) Then the wealthy and the poor split goes crazy. Poor people blame the wealthy for being self-righteous assholes and starts destroying the city by "protesting" (more or less violent demonstrations) and wearing the clown mask that mimics Arthur's makeup. With this poor/wealthy divide, one of the programs to disappear is Arthur's psychiatric counseling and medication and thus his spiral descends. 

Still trying to be Dori from Finding Nemo and just keep swimming, Arthur decides to do his stand up comedy show, which he bombs. His idol, Murray Franklin (i.e. a Jay Leno type) sees the show tape and invites him on the show, laughing at his expense. On top of that, Penny (Arthur's mom) has been writing letters to Thomas Wayne for years. Arthur thinks its garbage until he opens up a letter and it states that Wayne is his dad. Arthur decides to find out the truth, goes to Wayne Manor, runs into 10-year old Bruce Wayne and is kicked out by Alfred saying his mother was insane and adopted Arthur. At this time, Penny is hospitalized for having a stroke and Arthur is tragically heartbroken about his mother and is having trouble coping with society. 

This shit is going off the rails on a crazy train. No lie.

Oh boy, shit goes off the fucking rails now. Like this shit is bananas, thank you Gwen Stefani for teaching me how to spell. Arthur confronts Thomas, says that Penny was delusional and Arthur decides to go seek out the truth at Arkham Asylum pretty much. Turns out, he was adopted and her boyfriend abused the shit out of both of them. Penny, who is delusional also, is convinced that Thomas used his money and connections to hide the adoption and put her in the crazy bin to hide the affair. Doesn't matter to Arthur, he's pissed and off his crazy meds so he goes and kills his mom good ole' Khal Drogo style with a pillow. Arthur is preparing to go on Murray's show and while practicing his material, his co-workers stop by, he kills the one that got him fired from the job, but leaves the midget alone because he was kind to him in the past. Guess he's not all bad. 

No more Mister Nice Guy. More like Mister J.

Just kidding. Hahahah he becomes the worst. He prepares for the show, showing up in full mask paint, which makes everyone think it's political. It's not. He asks to be introduced as the Joker on Murray's show. He goes on site and tells fucked up jokes and admits to the murders. He then talks about society and it failing people like himself and those he knows. He then murders Murray on the set. Riots are then breaking out across Gotham and one person corners the Wayne family, killing Bruce's parents in front of him. Arthur gets jailbroken from a cop car by an ambulance accident and uses his dripping blood to paint a smile on his face and dance around in the middle of the crowd. The movie ends in the asylum with Arthur talking to his psychiatrist about why he did what he did. He tells her she wouldn't understand the joke and kills her (offscreen) leaving only blood footprints as he dances away.

This movie was a different approach and look into mental illness. This made you feel like you had one so you could understand the point of view of the character, why he acted the way he did and how he evolved through no real fault of his own. It reminded me of a scene in the Dark Knight where the Joker talks about needing Batman, that he couldn't kill him because he completed him and that was shown so true here. If Joker never became the Joker, the riots wouldn't have happened, the poor wouldn't have revolted and the protestor wouldn't have killed Bruce's parents which was his motivation for becoming Batman. This is a symbiotic relationship of how people become the best and worst of themselves through their relationships and how their predecessors can pass on the damage to other generations. I think this film is important to watch to understand mental illness and comprehend even a bit how other people are effected by bad, little or no change.