The Joker movie - starring Joaquin Phoenix (MOD: May contain Spoilers)

Deleted User wrote: »

After being enthralled by Joker, I've taken on to watch the few movies of Joaquin Pheonix's that I still haven't seen yet.

Well, after watching Joker and You Were Never Really Here in the past few nights, I think I'm going to put on Martyrs or Schindler's List now to cheer myself up.

“Don’t worry you won’t get far” isn’t exactly an easy watch either. Phoenix does not choose easy roles.

I don’t get some of the snobbery thrown at Phillips. I’ve noticed one or two specifically reference his earlier stuff as if he’s not entitled to try something completely different. Almost like giving out for Adam sandler for doing punch drunk love because he is normally just a waky comedian.

There also seems to be an almost over reaching effort to distance this from the movies Phillips has said inspired it. This is exactly what fanboys do when prequels “we didn’t need” are made and they spend all their time moaning about it. In this case it’s a “this isn’t comparable with taxi driver” sort of snobbery. Ok, well don’t compare it with it then, that was made 40 years ago. Maybe judge it as a remarkable achievement for a comic book movie in this day and age. More so for Warner brothers who are the glazers of comic book movies, don’t seem to have a clue what to do.

I feel The only fair way to judge a movie is basing it on how it worked on its own. It might of drawn inspiration from elsewhere but it’s got its own unique take. I’ve been trying to understand why people could actually make “it’s hard to work out what they are trying to say” an issue. They said it themselves , the movie is whatever you make of it. If that doesn’t suit how you like movies to be made then maybe it’s just a case that this movie isn’t for you. Why does everything have to make sense and be easily explainable? Why can’t the entire movie be ambiguous for us to enjoy it?

There is a social commentary on our society but at its core there is a lonely person who is left to fend to themselves and suffer a horrible life. I think this sort of story makes some people uncomfortable, partially because of their own ignorance and incapacity to comprehend the kind of suffering Arthur endures.

Maybe I’m taking the message I want to take from it but I do think there is so much depth to this movie, I can’t understand peoples feelings that suggest the opposite is true. Brexit and Trump have shown how self destructive society can get and how they will turn to things they don’t really understand when they feel the elite are not listening to them. I’m fairly sure there examples of events lighting the touch paper of revolution in the pas, we don’t need any back story to tell us that because this is jokers story. We just have to go along with it and fil it the pieces which is quite easy.

In many regards, most people in society delude themselves every day so even if Arthur’s story is in his head he’s not alone. Everybody tells themselves a story about who they are and they manipulate events in their lives that is an untruthful reflection of their lives. Look at how people can different events on the same crime, or how people’s flawed minds can remember things badly. Or politics or sport, how people can view the exact same events in a completely different way.

I don’t see why “the audience can make up its own reality/mind on the movie” is not a legitimate way of making a movie. In many regards it’s a movie about one of the craziest characters ever created so it not being clear or making sense is quite appropriate. I also think for those who didn’t want an origin story, they can just presume it was all in his head and just not over think it. I think the Wayne’s inclusion doesn’t matter, except to people looking for issues.

I hope it’s standalone unless they have a savage script that doesn’t involve batman. I can’t see how this fits into a Batman story unless it’s a Nolan type universe. But I trust Phoenix won’t let the quality deminish so if there is another one it’s got a solid base if he’s agreed to do it.

My initial feeling after it was not to watch it again, but I keep going back to it and thinking about it. I can’t say that about many movies.