(film 122 minutes)
Directed by: Todd Phillips
Language: English
Rating: 4/10 | Yaser Tohidi
October 15, 2019
Arthur is living in a city rich in crime and mismanagement. He is suffering from a disorder that causes uncontrolled laughter for which he uses medication. He wants to become a comedian, but people do not understand his jokes. He is detached from the society and lives with his old mother in a modest flat. In one of his job assignments when he is entertaining at a children’s hospital, the gun that he carries for self-defense falls out of his pocket. He is later fired because of this. Disappointed and angry, he goes back home by the subway. There he kills three young adults who harassed a girl and beaded him up as his laughter starts. Succeeding to escape from this incident he continues to practice for his turn in an amateur comedy show. His performance is poorly received to the extent that he is mocked in a TV show. However, his clip showed in the TV show becomes popular and he is invited to the show.
In the meantime, from his mother’s letters to the billionaire mayoral candidate, Thomas Wayne, Arthur finds out that he is Thomas’ illegitimate son. He confronts Thomas and asks for his compassion, but Thomas tells him that his mother is delusional. Arthur tracks his mother’s mental problem records and finds out that she was hospitalized, and she adopted a son and allowed her abusive boyfriend to harm them both. Distressed by knowing these, Arthur kills his mother.
Arthur goes to the TV show and confesses his crimes and then he kills the TV show man. He is later arrested as the riots break out across the city against Thomas Wayne and the rich. In the riot, a man finds Thomas and his family and kills Thomas and his wife but spears their son.
Arthur is transferred into a mental hospital. He tells his psychiatrist that she would not understand his jokes. At finale, he runs from orderlies, leaving a trail of bloodied footprints.
Joker is a social thriller which suffers from loos logical bounds; Arthur who loves his mother kills her by knowing both where abused, TV show continues as normal after Arthur reveals his crimes, mayoral candidate tries to escape the riot against himself with no security. This lack of logic is highlighted even more in passivity and fate that surrounds the main character. Arthur seems to fall in committing the crimes; his gun is an offer from his colleague, his murder in the subway is by change as his uncontrolled laughter comes out at the wrong time and also, he apparently does not have the card which describes his laughter in case of need. Viewer expects Arthur to kill Thomas when they meet but no. Arthur is passive until he understands that he has been adopted and been abused in his childhood. Then he has nothing to lose and anger fills him up. Again, he is not active, he follows his emotions and his fate. He kills his mother, his ex-colleague, and finally TV show man. His selection does not seem planned. He is unpredictable.
There are also side stories which are not part of the main story-line. For example, the riot is against the rich and the men killed by Arthur in the subway are rich and that is why the riot hail Arthur. But he is not interested in politics although he likes being seen and appreciated by people. The riot helps him to escape from the detectives and he helps the riot in acting extremely. The relation between Joker and the riot is not defined properly. Another example is Arthur’s delusion on having a relationship with his neighbor. This has no connection to the rest of the scenario. After all it is only a delusion.
Joker fails to contextualize the story on the battle between governing rich and marginalized poor and instead it just demonizes both sides and the result is chaos and murder. These two poles of demon give the Joker a fantasy tune and holds back the viewer from getting side although the mise-en-scène is for Arthur and builds a protagonist from him.
In short, Joker is a yellow card to a system that marginalizes the poor. If the system does not respect them, it might fall to chaos where opportunists are fishing and have no morality in their actions. It’s only a yellow card because it falls short in picturing an objective idea for resolution or a subjective character to keep on the light of hope. Joker depicts a society of problems and alienated people, but it doesn’t propose any idea for opposition. Joker fantasizes the societies with large gap between classes and keeps on showing every corner of it, but it proposes no hope. This is not what you expect to see on cinema. This you see every day around yourself or if you are lucky, just on the news. But you go to cinema and you trust the director to talk to you and create a new world or, if a responsible director, a new way and a beam of hope for bearing the difficult life. Otherwise it just adds to the problems and becomes part of it.
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