Joker

Joker (2019) was sold as a comic book film and works like a remake of a seventies New York picture. Arthur Fleck works as a clown in Gotham, wants to be a stand up comedian, and has a condition that makes him laugh uncontrollably. The city cuts its social services, his medication runs out, and a gun ends up in his hand. The references are not hidden: Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. Both are Scorsese films and both star De Niro. Here De Niro plays the talk show host, the opposite side of the role he had in The King of Comedy, where he was the obsessive fan. That casting is not accidental and is the film's cleverest move. Joaquin Phoenix lost a great deal of weight for the part and developed the laugh himself. He won the Oscar for Best Actor. The film caused argument on release, and whether it excuses violence was debated at length. Todd Phillips had until then made comedies, which made the shift unexpected too. The box office was unusual as well. It was made on a relatively modest budget and became the first film with an adult rating to pass a billion dollars. The staircase in the Bronx became a tourist stop after the scene was shot there. It runs 122 minutes. Good for: character drama, seventies style city films, and Phoenix. Less good for: the violence is harsh and close up, the handling of mental illness is contested, and the tone is oppressive throughout.