Alternative monitoring of popular culture ~ broadly defined ~ in the pursuit of deeper understanding
Sunday, October 6, 2019
Joker
That Joaquin Phoenix’s physical form appears to have been broken and improperly mended adds levels of credibility to his performance as Arthur Fleck a/k/a Joker in Todd Phillip’s brutal character study. The picture, an origins film of sorts for the Batman saga, depicts a grim and violent Gotham City, the filthy home to teeming masses of the discarded and forgotten and a few wealthy princes of the city. Phoenix’s Joker is a distressing, sunken presence who dreams of making it big as a stand-up comedian but lacks the imagination to pull that off. Instead he works as a clown-for-hire, tends to his feeble mother (Frances Conroy) and fixates on a local late-night talk show host (Robert DeNiro). After a punishing beatdown by teenaged thugs and a series of other indignities, Arthur decides to fight back against a world that threatens to devour him. His actions inspire imitation and insurrection. Phoenix gives his usual masterful performance in a movie that taps contemporary societal stressors to leave viewers shaken and disoriented.
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