Joker Movie, A Review : Blog # 347

Joker Movie, A Review

I started watching ‘ Joker ’, the movie with great expectations. Over the next painfully slow, dreary 120 minutes, all I could see was the mis- deeds of a person who needed help with his mental condition. I wonder why people are going gaga about this movie!

            The movie has nothing extra ordinary about it. The protagonist is an aspiring stand up comedian. He makes a living by being a clown. He is unhappy that no one is bothered about his existence and the fact that the world is rude to him. He had a difficult child hood. He has a medical condition where he laughs uncontrollably in situations which are not meant to evoke a laughter.

            One fine day, he encounters some rich brats in the subway train. Enraged, he kills them. He finds joy in those killings. Further, he goes on killing people recklessly till the end of the movie. That’s it. There is nothing more to the movie!

            Now, you might be thinking I haven’t understood the sub texts. Oh, I did. I understand the movie was trying to show how the ‘Haves’ treat the ‘Have- nots’. How the perceived ‘normal’ humans treat the ones who don’t fit in. How insensitive we as a race are, towards people suffering from mental health. The movie was also talking about how a difficult childhood can govern the rest of the life of a person. It also deals with the lies that adults tell the kids and how when the false hood is revealed, it can bring the world crashing down around them. BUT, nothing mentioned here makes the movie remarkable. These are tried and tested narratives. There is nothing exceptional about these story lines!

            I feel many of us are expressing our false admiration for this movie out of sheer peer pressure. Your friends or family might have spoken highly about the movie. Not wanting to come across as not having a refined taste in movies, you also went about giving rave reviews! Is that the reason?

            Has Joaquin Phoenix done an exceptional performance in the movie as the lead actor? Hell yea! Despite the movie being so unremarkable; the actor makes you want to sit through the snooze fest that it is. He epitomizes what human will, dedication and talent could achieve even in uninspiring situations.

Arun Babu.

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