On August 31, as part of the 76th Venice Film Festival, the world premiere of the movie "The Joker" starring Joaquin Phoenix took place. The tape, among 20 other films, participates in the main screening competition and, along with the “Dreyfus Case” by Roman Polanski, “To the Stars” by James Gray and “Laundry” by Stephen Soderbergh, is considered the main contender for the “Golden Lion”.
The release of "The Joker" caused a great stir: long before the start of the show, a long line of festival guests lined up near the hall, and after the final credits, the audience applauded the creators of the picture for eight minutes standing.
The film takes place in the early 1980s. Gotham City was swallowed by a social crisis, followed by a garbage strike. Arthur Fleck (Phoenix) lives in such an environment. He works as an animated clown and dreams of a career as a stand-up comedian in the Murray Franklin show (Robert De Niro), which his mother encourages in every way (Francis Conroy).
However, on the streets of Gotham City, Fleck invariably faces human cruelty, which over and over again increasingly replaces the clown’s smile with the Joker’s grin.
- © Shot from the movie "Joker" (2019)
A characteristic feature of the character is periodic bouts of uncontrolled laughter caused by a brain injury. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Phoenix said that he rehearsed the Joker laughter for several months before he managed to find the right tone.
For the role of the Joker, the Phoenix dropped more than twenty kilograms. According to the actor, this had a strong impact on his psyche and almost began to drive him crazy. Phoenix also read a number of books on psychological disorders. According to him, he did not look for a reason in the actions of his hero and did not seek to diagnose him, but wanted to discover new facets in the Joker.
Maybe that is why critics who looked at the tape first of all draw on the brilliant work of the American actor.
“The Phoenix plays an outsider with a dull mind and does it so confidently that it is impossible to take his eyes off him. There is not a single false note in his portrayal of the ruthless nature of Arthur’s despair, ”writes Owen Gleibermann of Variety.
In turn, David Rooney in an article for The Hollywood Reporter notes that the film owes much to the brilliant game of the Phoenix.
“This is the benefit of the Phoenix, and his incredible acting fills the film with such a fear and compassion madness that it becomes no laughing matter. We will not detract from the artistic image created by the scriptwriter, his co-author and excellent teams of technical experts and designers, but it is the game of the Phoenix that makes the Joker so deliberately provocative product of the Hollywood comic book adaptation film, ”Rooney writes.
- Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix
- © Vincenzo PINTO / AFP
Fans of graphic novels about the Joker are still not known for certain its origin and real name. Relative clarity in the fate of one of the main antagonists of the DC universe was introduced in 1988 by the comic book “Murderous Joke” by Alan Moore, which tells us that the Joker in the past was a comedian with a broken fate (but here is an explanation that the story can be made up).
The story arch about the undeveloped career and the madness of the Joker in the script of his picture included Todd Phillips. However, when creating the script, he did not limit himself to Moore's comic book and added an episode from the graphic novel by Frank Miller to the story.
“Fans of DC comics will no doubt want to know how canonical the picture is. If you do not go too far into the spoilers, the answer will be: more canonical than it might seem at first glance. Phillips is not only inspired by countless films, but also uses in his tape an entire passage from the comic strip “The Return of the Dark Knight” by Frank Miller, ”writes Alonso Durald from The Wrap.
Some critics emphasize that when creating the picture, Phillips drew inspiration not only from comics - they saw in the film the continuity in relation to the works of Martin Scorsese. Reviewers note that the director was inspired by his films about broken destinies, and also sought to convey the style and spirit of New York, which served as a prototype of Gotham.
“The true source of inspiration for the author was Martin Scorsese’s two echoes of the Taxi Driver and the Comedy King (where De Niro played the stand-up loser. - RT ), showing the ugly wrong side of American reality,” writes Xen Brooks from The Guardian.
Phillips Tape is the first solo film about Batman's nemesis. Most people remember the Joker played by Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger (awarded the Oscar for his posthumous death) and, more recently, Jared Leto.
In previous screen adaptations, the Joker acted as one of Batman's antagonists, with a fuzzy traced characteristic line. In the Phillips tape, the Joker is an ordinary person who once tired of turning his other cheek. Humiliated, determined to fight back.
- © Shot from the movie "Joker" (2019)
“The special appeal of the title role, both in the scenario idea and in the uncompromising heartbreaking performance of Joaquin Phoenix, lies in the fact that we are pushed to empathy, even when the Joker is already embarking on the path of a killer maniac,” David Rooney shares his impressions.
Some critics have already declared the comedy film Phillips (many know the director of the film "The Hangover" and "Back to End") as surprisingly serious and realistic.
“The Joker” is a dark, gloomy and psychologically convincing story of origin, a realistic transfer of caricature sociopathy to the big screen, ”said Justin Cheng of the Los Angeles Times.
The Russian premiere of the tape is scheduled for October 3, 2019.