joker movie 2019
joker 2019
joker movie story:-
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| joker movie 2019 |
Joker is a 2019 American psychological thriller film directed and produced by Todd Phillips, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scott Silver. The film, based on DC or the character; set in 1981, follows Arthur Fleck, a failed stand-up comedian whose descent into insanity and nihilism inspires a violent counter-cultural revolution against the wealthy in a decaying Gotham City. Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Shea Whigham, and Marc Maron appear in supporting roles. Joker was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, and Joint Effort, in association with Bron Creative and Village Roadshow Pictures, and distributed by Warner Bros.
joker review
The elevator begins to work again and they reach the required floor. Just before he reaches his door, Arthur returns the gesture. They part ways. She smiles understandingly.
There's nothing more to that scene. But it's uncomfortable. It makes you squirm, and you don't know why. But apart from the fraying mindset, it's a dark indication of the events that will follow in the film.
Joker, directed by Todd Phillips, is the origin story of one of the most baffling and iconic DC villains. Through the decades, the character has been given numerous flourishes, and each actor has brought something new to the villain. We've seen Cesar Romero's playful prankster, Jack Nicholson in Batman (1989) and no one can forget Heath Ledger's dark and sadistic portrayal of the Joker. Ledger's characterization of the Joker in Dark Knight set a benchmark, which, it was believed, no one could touch. After the forgettable performance of Jared Leto in Suicide Squad, Phoenix brings the Joker to life again in a terrifying, haunting and unsettling performance.
It is the 1980s. There is an ongoing class war in the city of Gotham. The privileged like Thomas Wayne make paltry statements about poverty, while the ones pushed to the periphery of society like Arthur Fleck and his ailing mother Penny remain invisible. Arthur tries to earn a living for himself as a clown but is ridiculed and beaten up. In short, he is at the hands of a system that cannot, or rather refuses to see him. And slowly, the thin mask of sanity that he struggles to hold to the world, slips throughout the film. A family secret hastens his descent into madness. The lines between real and hallucinations become blurred. It leads to a powerful climax, with an ending that rivals a black satirical comedy.
Philips has received strong backlash for making a film about inciting violence in 2019, a year when there have been more than 300 mass shootings in the US itself. It was said to be the typical whitewashed story of a lone wolf resorting to mass murder because he was shunned by society. When posed with the question about inciting violence, Phoenix himself had left an interview as he later said that "he had not thought about that".
But is the answer so black and white? The Joker while attempting to humanize the antagonist in the beginning, doesn't glorify him. The twinge of empathy and sympathy dissolves through the film, and there is a sense of fear of the monster Arthur devolves into. The film also seems to be a strange warning of the dangers of unchecked mental illness and the effects it can have on an individual's moral, physical and emotional make-up.
The Joker is a one-man show, with extended cameos by Robert De Niro and Zazie Beetz. Phoenix is hypnotic and astonishing with his performance, which definitely does merit an Oscar. His eyes haunt you. They show his struggle with his inner demons. It's not often that you find an actor who can give you gooseflesh with every movement that is considered joyful, like dancing or just laughing. Phoenix pulls some demonic dance moves down a stairway; the same stairway where he had once walked alone and miserable.
His laughs as the Joker are anything but funny, and there is a variety of them. There's the high-pitched cackle, and there's the hoarse guffaw that hides the sobs. His laugh has no joy in it. It just shows how dead he is on the inside.
The film has its fair share of flaws of course, and there are some scenes forced into the film. Thomas Wayne's speech on poverty; another one where Arthur meets a young Bruce Wayne, which might confuse the timelines for a few, are among the problematic parts of Joker. The rich and elite have no greys in their personality, to the extent that some dialogues get repetitive.
The Joker is a deeply unsettling social commentary on a ravaging class divide, as well as a warning sign for mental illness. It is not for everyone. But it will definitely bring about a lot of conversation.
3.5 stars out of 5 for Joker.
joker trailer
Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck / Joker:
A mentally ill, impoverished stand-up comedian disregarded by society, whose history of abuse causes him to become a nihilistic criminal. Phoenix had been interested in a low-budget "character study" of a comic book character and said the film "feels unique, it is its own world in some ways, and maybe It might as well be the thing that scares you the most. Phoenix lost 52 pounds (24 kg) in preparation and based his laugh on "videos of people suffering from pathological laughter. He also sought to portray a character who audiences could not identify with and did not look to previous Joker actors for inspiration; instead, he read a book about political assassinations so he could understand killers and motivations. Phoenix believes that Fleck is the actual Joker; however, director Todd Phillips said that he intentionally left it ambiguous as to whether Arthur becomes the actual Joker as seen in traditional Batman stories or inspires a separate character.
Robert De Niro as Murray Franklin
A talk show host who plays a role in Arthur's downfall. De Niro said his role in Joker pays homage to his character from The King of Comedy (1983), Rupert Pupkin, who is a comedian obsessed with a talk-show host.
A cynical single mother and Arthur's love interest. Beetz, a "huge fan" of Phoenix, said that it was "an honor" to co-star with him and that she learned a lot working with him on set.
Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck: Arthur's mentally and physically ill mother, who formerly worked for Thomas Wayne. Hannah Gross portrays a young Penny.
Additionally, Brett Cullen plays Thomas Wayne, a billionaire philanthropist running for mayor of Gotham. Unlike in the comics, Thomas plays a role in the Joker's origins and is less sympathetic than traditional incarnations. Alec Baldwin was initially cast in the role but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Douglas Hodge plays Alfred Pennyworth, the butler and caretaker of the Wayne family, and Dante Pereira-Olson plays Bruce Wayne, Thomas's son, who becomes the Joker's archenemy Batman as an adult.
Additional cast members include Glenn Fleshler and Leigh Gill as Randall and Gary, Arthur's clown co-workers; Bill Camp and Shea Whigham as two detectives in the Gotham City Police Department; Marc Maron as Gene Ufland, a producer on Franklin's show; Josh Pais as Hoyt Vaughn, Arthur's agent;[33][38] Brian Tyree Henry as a clerk at Arkham State Hospital; Ben Warheit as a Wall Street banker who gets murdered by Arthur on a subway platform; Gary Gulman as a comedian who performs his act at the restaurant before Arthur does; and Bryan Callen as Javier, a co-worker of Arthur. Justin Theroux has an uncredited cameo as a celebrity guest on Franklin's show.
A New York City Subway C train with a rolling for the fictional 0 train leftover from filming for Joker
Principal photography commenced in September 2018 in New York City, under the working title Romeo. Shortly after filming began, De Niro, Brett Cullen, Shea Whigham, Glenn Fleshler, Bill Camp, Josh Pais, and Douglas Hodge were announced to have joined the film, with Cullen replacing Baldwin. Bradley Cooper joined the film as a producer, and the director of photography was Lawrence Sher, both of whom Phillips had previously collaborated with. On September 22, a scene depicting a violent protest filmed at the Church Avenue station in Kensington, Brooklyn, although the station was modified to look like the Bedford Park Boulevard station in the Bronx. Filming of violent scenes also took place at the abandoned lower platform of the Ninth Avenue station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
According to Beetz, Phillips rewrote the entire script during production; because Phoenix lost so much weight for the film, there would not be an opportunity for reshoots. She recalled, we would go into Todd's trailer and write the scene for the night and then do it. During hair and makeup, we'd memorize those lines and then do them and then we'd reshoot that three weeks later. Phillips recalled Phoenix sometimes walked off-set during filming because he lost self-control and needed to compose himself—to the confusion of other actors, who felt they had done something wrong. De Niro was one of the few Phoenix never walked out on, and De Niro said he was very intense in what he was doing, as it should be, as he should be.
In August 2019, BoxOffice magazine analyst Shawn Robbins wrote that he expected Joker to gross $60–90 million during its opening weekend in North America. Following the film's premiere, BoxOffice predicted Joker could open to $70–95 million domestically. Later updating to $85–105 million, Robbins suggested it could become the first October release to open to over $100 million and surpass the record set by Venom in 2018. However, Comscore's senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian thought the film would open closer to $50 million because it is not a "typical comic-book movie. Three weeks before its release, official industry tracking projected the film would debut to $65–80 million, with some estimates going as high as $90 million. The week of its release, Atom Tickets announced pre-sale totals for the film were outpacing those of Venom and It Chapter Two ($91.1 million debuts), and that Joker was its second-bestselling R-rated film of 2019 behind John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.
Joker opened in 4,374 theaters in North America and made $39.9 million on its first day, including $13.3 million from Thursday night previews, besting Venom's respective October records. It went on to break Venom's record for the biggest October opening, finishing the weekend with a domestic total of $96.2 million. The film set career records for Phoenix, Phillips, and De Niro, and was the fourth-largest debut for an R-rated film of all time. It was also Warner Bros.'s biggest domestic opening in two years. In its second weekend, the film fell just 41.8% to $55.9 million, remaining in first and marking the best second-weekend October total (besting Gravity's $43.1 million in 2013). It made $29.2 million in its third weekend and $19.2 million in its fourth, finishing second behind Maleficent: Mistress of Evil both times.
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