FILM OF THE WEEK
Joker Cert: 16. Now showing.
On screen or page, the Joker, Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime, has always shaded arch-nemesis Batman as the most interesting thing on view. Defining interpretations came from Jack Nicholson’s fixed grin in Batman (1989) and more recently Heath Ledger, whose ghoulish psycho in The Dark Knight (2008) wanted to “watch the world burn”.
Ledger’s in particular seemed to tap into something disturbingly current that caught public attention, and it was only a matter of time before an origins character study was required.
Joaquin Phoenix, wiry of limb and bringing that unseated air from The Master, is struggling comic and clown-for-hire Arthur Fleck. Living with his ailing mother (Frances Conroy) and reliant on medication for equilibrium, the near anarchy that rubbish-strewn Gotham is falling into is starting to chip away at him, an effect ramped-up when he’s sacked for carrying a gun.
Cineastes will quickly spot nods to Scorsese (Robert de Niro even turns up as a schlocky talk show host) and Kubrick alongside subtler references such as the music of Jackson C Frank and a retro Warner Bros logo before opening credits (in case you were in any doubt of the era).
Yes, Joker fits into a time and place in US cinema when lone anti-heroes dream of washing the scum off the streets, but there are unsettling signposts to America’s losing battle with maladjusted “incels” and vengeful gun nuts. It is dark stuff, but Arthur’s mental health problems are actually front and centre once you look past the commedia dell’arte prancing and manic cackle.
Phoenix, pulsating with menace and instability, puts his hand up for title of most iconic screen Joker, and while perhaps unable to dethrone Ledger, he comes close.
This doesn’t feel like a franchise film, and is least convincing when Arthur is brought close to the Wayne family sphere. Director Todd Phillips (The Hangover trilogy) and co-writer Scott Silver have liberated the Joker from superhero-dom, filling the frame with dark pomp and musicality as Phoenix leaves an indelible mark on the character.
★★★★