Don't Smile

 JOKER (2019)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

As unnerving and intense an actor as Joaquin Phoenix is, "Joker" feels like a homicidal take on Phoenix's occasionally fascinating and mind-numbing work as the catatonic Freddie in 2012's "The Master." Here's what I said about Phoenix in that film: " At 2 hours and 17 minutes, it is simply a chore to watch Freddie (Phoenix) who engages in sex or humping a nude sand figure, and stares and laughs maniacally or indulges in uncontrollably violent confrontations." That might sum up Phoenix's work as the iconic villain from the Batman universe in "Joker." Joker dances and cavorts in some strange balletic movements, laughs maniacally enough to draw notice from bystanders, and runs frequently after shooting people or knifing them. This bullied Joker is also on a Rupert Pupkin vibe as he desperately wants to be on a late night talk show though his comedic material is more political than funny. And just as it was true of Rupert in "The King of Comedy," Joker is also not much of a standup comedian where his uncontrollable laughter serves as an obstruction. This life is one that has been compared to members of the incel community - I just don't see a celibate person here. I just see a sick, diseased mind from a profoundly disturbed and delusional individual and that is all. Or maybe that is enough.

I don't feel that Todd Phillips' film "Joker" cuts any deeper than that though. The movie is not a bore but it can be an irritating chore to sit through. It is ostensibly a dark character study inspired by Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" and "The King of Comedy" but the movie never gives us much depth to the Joker, certainly not enough to warrant such comparisons and homages. Phoenix's Joker is not an engaging or remotely cunning personality - nor does he need to be - but the conception of a guy who is as empty and devoid of emotion as the world around him doesn't make for stirring entertainment or a full-bodied character study at 2 hours and 2 minutes. Drawing more comparisons, the late Heath Ledger showed us a Joker as a tortured clown who could defeat Batman yet never felt more out of place in Gotham than Batman - society needed those two to exist or it would've been necessary to invent them. Phoenix's Joker is, as evidenced in "The Master," a dour one-dimensional sociopath who is not allowed one honest emotion through the whole movie (his skeletal torso revealed when Joker takes off his shirt is far more intriguing - his spine looks like it is barely hanging on to his body). At least in "The Master" Phoenix gave us two notes of expression. This Joker is given one - smile or force that smile by faking it and laughing (the latter is a medical condition that is expressed in a medical card he carries). That is the whole movie and the whole performance. 

"Joker" is set in the early 1980's in Gotham and that is about as original as the film gets (a small treat to see Robert De Niro as a late night talk show host). There is no moment worth savoring or salivating over - "Joker" has the mojo to work on your nerves but at the expense of any real human dimensions. Sometimes the film is riveting particularly the first half-hour (his aforementioned medical card made me laugh) where there's momentum developed between Joker living at home with a mentally ill mother (Frances Conroy), and a supposed romantic relationship he has with a next-door neighbor. But these moments are so arbitrary that they never build to anything - they exist as fleetingly as Joker forcing a smile while looking at a mirror or dancing on a staircase to the tune of "Rock and Roll Part Two." The violence emanates from Joker aka Arthur Fleck because he can't take the craziness of Gotham City anymore (and his medications are no longer available due to the Mayor cutting the budget on mental health care) but, again, no real buildup. When the violence occurs, it is as distancing as any superhero movie might show. When the film was over, I respected individual moments that clearly ape Scorsese and Sidney Lumet (the "Network" finale) and even (intentional or not) "Erendira," but I felt as indifferent to the Joker as I did to the movie. I did not feel sorry for him, I just wanted him gone.