After taking time to process, here is my take. I will put in spoiler tags for things that are spoilery.
My opinion is that this is not a movie with a point of view. Well, let me clarify: It is not attempting to persuade the viewer to its point of view. This is not, as some have said, a war cry for the Incels, a touchstone for entitled white guys to feel more justified in committing acts of violence because the world was mean to them. Anyone who walks out of that film feeling that way was already in that mindset when they went in.
I think it did a ridiculously good job at evoking the reality of being mentally ill. There were certain shots, wordless tableaux that so evoked what it feels like to be depressed that it was... both profoundly freeing and just bleakly despairing. As someone who struggles with depression and anxiety I felt seen and understood. Let me be clear, however, at no point in the film was the character of Joker, in my opinion, a sympathetic one. There is an innate desire in most people to root for the underdog. And in this film, Arthur Fleck is the personification of a no-win scenario made flesh. I wanted to empathize with him, but I couldn't. And I think that was purposeful.
Joaquin Phoenix's performance was indescribably good.
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His ability to laugh in a way that is clearly sobbing... I can't even. In the movie, Arthur has a condition as a result of head trauma that makes him laugh uncontrollably at inappropriate times. If he's anxious or angry or sad, he laughs. Joaquin Phoenix makes the emotion behind this demented laughter tangible. You can feel the choking anxiety when he's on stage trying to do stand up -- his grips his chest and throat like he's having an asthma attack. When he's dealing with grief and isolation, his brows furrow and the cadence of the laughter is clearly like sobbing. It is... I
felt it.
I didn't feel like a comic book movie. Despite the characters present, the location of Gotham, it felt way more real than a comic book movie. It was 100% more Chronicle and nothing like Man of Steel or Batman v Superman. There were times when I was like 'Well, clearly that wouldn't really happen...' and then I sit and think about the shit that we see on the news and it just hit me that this movie is way more grounded in reality than I am at all comfortable with.
This movie is deeply uncomfortable. It is not fun. It challenges you and makes you think. I strongly caution people looking for a fun night out to consider something else unless you're prepared to really think about some heavy shit afterwards. This could be a stellar date movie, if like... you're both woke as fuck and are down for deeply complicated conversations about uncomfortable shit.
There is so much to unpack and talk about, but I really need to actually get some work done and not spam this board all day. But man. If you've seen this movie and wanna talk, PM me. There is so much going on.
