Joker
Joker
Arthur Fleck, a party clown and a failed stand-up comedian, leads an impoverished life with his ailing mother. However, when society shuns him and brands him as a freak, he decides to embrace the life of chaos in Gotham City.
Mike reviewedOctober 11, 2024
Joker is a psychological film, that provides the viewer with an emotionally sad, yet beautiful, experience
"For my whole life, I didn’t know if I even really existed. But I do, and people are starting to notice."
Out of all the films I have seen in my life, Joker has to be the one that left the most emotional impact on me. Days after my first viewing of the film I was still thinking about Joker.
After the Joker depiction in The Dark Knight, done by Heath Ledger, the bar for the Joker character was raised significantly. But Joaquin Phoenix managed to bring another great depiction of the Joker to the big screen as he, arguably, performed the best role he has ever done. The acting and improvisation he did made you empathize with Arthur Fleck and the mental struggles, internal conflicts and the emotions that were going through his head.
The cinematography of this film visualizes Gotham City as a worn and sad place. The shots are, most of the times, focused on Arthur inside this worn and sad Gotham City. The camera movements are interconnected with Arthur’s emotions, which enhances the emotional attachment the viewer has with Arthur. A great example of this is the hand-held camera during the bathroom scene.
The score, by Hildur Guðnadóttir, transfers the emotions of Arthur Fleck to the viewer. In this score you can hear when Arthur is sad and vulnerable. You can hear his rise towarch something stronger as he gains confidence. You can hear his internal conflict between Arthur Fleck and the Joker. And in the end, the score lets you hear that this transition has settled.
The emotion-focussed cinematography, combined with the emotionally dynamic score by Hildur Guðnadóttir, let’s the viewer experience the same emotional rollercoaster that Arthur Fleck experiences. An experience that does not fade away anytime soon.
Letterboxd: Mike_v_E