muser

Well-known member
I find it a bit troubling that such a gloomy and violent movie draws those high numbers of viewers. It's no "Taxi Driver 2019" though, at all.

I just watched last night and liked it. And this is probably one of things I liked the most, how relentlessly dismal the whole film was and at the same time how it's become a big blockbuster in the comic book genre no less. Even if it's a bit of a pastiche film and not massively deep I think films like this need this oxygen in mainstream cinema, there's no catharsis or misery relating to what allot of people can personally identify with. It's the unpleasantness of being confronted with issues that are lurking underneath, somewhere people don't feel comfortable dwelling on when they go out to a movie on a Friday night, it's not a place Hollywood usually goes. The idea of good and evil is a cancer imo.

I was fortunate not to know who the director was before watching or his comments about comedy being ruined by 'woke' culture, definitely would have biased my opinions while watching and probably still has a bit after reading it.

I thought the cinema scene was a bit close to the bone and not in a good way, totally unnecessary, and the whole thing of him being picked as a leader of a movement a bit clumsy and not fleshed out enough but I thought a nod to populism, which is fueled by nihilistic leaders not a nihilistic populace.
 
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version

Well-known member
I have no idea whether this is legit or not, but protestors in Beirut are apparently painting their faces like Joker. There's even a guy with a painted face wearing a V for Vendetta mask over the top and someone with a painted V mask.

 

version

Well-known member
One protester said she had come to Sunday’s protest with a Joker face because it was “perfect” for the occasion. “The reason we painted our faces is because we related to the character in the movie. Because before he painted his face he was just living that miserable life. Nobody cared about him, nobody would listen to him. He’s upset, he’s angry, and it just drove him to madness and that’s what’s happening [in Lebanon],” she said.

Another protester, from Bourj El-Barajneh in Beirut’s southern suburbs, said the societal situation in Joker resembled the Lebanese system: “Only the daughters and sons and friends of the leaders are taken care of and given priority. Unlike a person like me who has nothing to do with that.”

https://wired.me/culture/lebanon-pr...witter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
i just saw it, one of the most boring movies i've ever saw. one thing that i didn't understand, why not call the movie "the clown from new york" because this doesn't really have anything to do with batman does it? not that it would have made the film any better though. couldn't stand phoenix and his ridiculous expressions, it's meant to be realistic and grimey but it's just laughable. really don't get what is brilliant about this.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Just watched it this minute in fact, as part of an accidental double bill with Repulsion. They worked quite well together as they are both concerned with mental illness... however that just exposed the paucity of the modern film. Just one example would be the way that the nastiness that the joker faces every day, being beaten up and shouted at on the bus etc, was not half as effective as the treatment of Deneuve in Repulsion. In that she clearly demonstrates signs of having problems (eg turning up to work with the rabbit's head in her bag) but no-one really reacts and helps her... and this low key accidental cruelty seems so much harsher and darker than the over the top stuff of Joker. Plus, yeah, it was boring as fuck.
 
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Corpsey

bandz ahoy
Two people I've spoken to about this movie really connected with it on the mental illness front - one (I'm pretty sure) has a mental illness issue and the other has a partner with a severe mental illness.

I felt the movie was exploiting mental illness and offering a potentially harmful caricature of it as resulting in brutal (what's worse righteous) violence, but I can see how it would resonate with mentally ill people/carers, particularly with support services being stripped away.

Haven't changed my mind on this movie being essentially charlatan, but I do find its wild success intriguing. I think there's something going on there beyond clever/amoral marketing.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Well... I'd say it's not like anything else that is out there at the moment.... though on the other hand it's very like some old films.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Though actually scratch that cos I read a review the other day of another new film that sounded almost the same but a lot harsher - anyone know what that could be?
 

Xianders

New member
A very difficult film to perceive. My mother did not understand the message of the film, and therefore just hated this film.
 
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