Joker

I took a couple days to process Joker and to feel confident to write something about it. The film left me emotionally drained and in absolute awe of Phoenix. Every actor is hitting on all cylinders, but the plot drags at points and I remain unsure of the film’s politics – where does the incel-like fantasy end and the genuine inspection of mental illness begin?

I do know that Joker takes the darkest elements of Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy (the film is really an homage to Scorsese’s male characters) and smashes them together into a melange of human misery. I’m giving Joker this score because of the towering central performance; I think only time and reflection will tell if the rest of the film reaches those titanic heights. Joker is dangerous in the best tradition of challenging cinema, confined by the need for mainstream success.