Joker
2019 · Directed by Todd Phillips
Original language: English
- crime
- thriller
- drama
The story
During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
What it’s like
Grimy, sodium-orange Gotham streets, rain-slick sidewalks and stained subway tiles, shot with a restless handheld camera that stays close to one man's face. Phoenix's long, unbroken takes and tight close-ups build a slow, claustrophobic dread, while Hildur Guðnadóttir's cello score swells and drags like a held breath before a sudden burst of orchestral noise. The palette is mostly washed-out greens, ochres and dirty grey, with clown-red makeup and a few warm interior glows standing out as the only colour. The mood is bleak, unsettled and sometimes darkly funny, a character study tipping toward a psychological thriller. Violence is sudden, sharp and graphic, including several brutal killings and a street beating, with dread and cruelty more than gore; there is strong menace and some sexual content and disturbing imagery of mental illness. Best for viewers who want an intense, morally uneasy portrait of an outsider's unravelling, not something gentle.
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