Joker

One of the problems of films that come with a lot of hype is the inevitable disappointment when you finally see them. It’s the reason I try to avoid reviews until I’ve seen a film. However, the buzz around Joker has been tricky to miss and most of that has hyped this up into something special.

Inevitable disappointment then? Not a bit of it, what an incredible film this is. If you are expecting a comic book film then that’s not really what you get, instead you get a dark and brooding portrayal of a man on the edge, desperate, depressed, deluded and as he pointedly says later “what do you get when you cross a mentally ill loner with a society that doesn’t care?”.

It’s fantastically shot, with a brilliant musical score, well paced and well timed at 2 hours, never letting itself get distracted by long ponderous diversions and although it has graphic violence, it is limited to moments.

But most of all what it is, is an incredible performance by Joaquin Phoenix constantly and menacingly close to the edge, as life persistently chips away at him, one crushing disappointment at a time. His balance between control and unhinged madness is fantastic, delivering a film that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.

While some critics seem to have taken this film as some kind of cynical and manipulative exercise, for me it’s an incredible piece of work which owes a bit of a debt to American Psycho. It is not a comic book origins film, but a really well made portrait of someone descending into psychotic madness, an incredible film with an outstanding central performance.