Guest reviewer Lynette Carrington gives us a look at Todd Phillips, Scott Silver, and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker.
I was on the fence about seeing this movie; Joker has its fans and its haters. Personally, I thought it was a masterpiece in its brutally frank, yet complex construction that makes this movie as much a character study as it is a statement about mental health and how our health system often fails.
Joaquin Phoenix is nothing short of brilliant and constantly unnerving as we witness his character slip from his everyday reality into an alternate existence where he eventually emerges. Phoenix will win the Oscar for this role. River Phoenix would be proud of Joaquin’s mastery of this character and commitment to telling a uniquely disturbing story.
I also found it interesting that the one moment that truly created laughter from the audience was during a scene and moment that it shouldn’t have. In that moment, I acknowledged the exceptional intersection of scriptwriting and acting that revealed exactly why the film was brilliant on so many levels and made the audience react the way it did. It was Joker “comedy.” I’m not condoning anything in the movie, I’m only talking about it strictly from a filmmaking craft POV.
Lynette Carrington is a Marketing Director at Times Media Group. Find more of her reviews on instagram.