The Joker Is A Win (No Spoilers)

I attended a movie showing this last weekend at the Nugget Theater in Hanover, and I have only one thing to say: The Joker (2019) is an excellent movie that anyone with a strong stomach ought to attend.

Written and directed by Todd Phillips, the film agonizes its viewer through a true vision of mental illness and hair-raising realizations about the depravity of man, though often not the protagonist. This Joker is different from the sadistic one in the Dark Knight of my childhood or the clownish one of my parents’ childhood television shows. This Joker does not smile and instead climbs the long staircase on the way home that represents Arthur Fleck’s life. In this tale of depression, nihilism and anarchy very few jokes are told. This is an origin story after all. This origin story, while packing enough action to satisfy most movie-goers, is instead about something seemingly lost among most movie-makers these days: character. Note the use of the singular, because this film is only really about one character, Arthur Fleck — the Joker. Never does The Joker lose sight of its namesake, his goals, motivations, strengths, flaws, or perhaps most importantly, his vision of the world around him. Of course, the inner mind of Arthur is a dark place, reflected in the camera and lighting choices made in the production of this film. Strong sound effects further emote what Arthur feels. Superb set work produces an unmistakable feeling of place. However, this film is not one for the faint of heart. Every Dartmouth student I spoke to about the movie reported feelings of discomfort, the kind that made them want to see it again.