Film Review: Joker

"I Used To Think My Life Was A Tragedy, But Now I Realise, It's A Comedy..."

Suitably utilising the effects of the famous saying, "there is no such thing as bad publicity", War Dogs and The Hangover director, Todd Phillips, returns to cinemas this week with Joker, a movie which brings with it an a-typical example of contemporary social media carnage involving a movie which manages to have the official double stamp of both early critical plaudits and volcanic audience expectation. Benefitting from early calls of being given "masterpiece" status after its' debut at this year's Venice International Film Festival back in late August, Phillips' movie famously has been through sensational, La La Land-esque levels of backlash from many across the globe even before any form of general release, with particular avenues of spectators arguing the negative impact the film may have on the wider populous due to its' oppressive and disturbing themes, a particularly nonsensical argument which harks back to the age-old sociological theory that violent media turns the lay person into sadistic, sociopathic serial killers. Putting such nonsense aside, Joker as a film is a surprisingly nihilistic and hauntingly effective character study, a movie which is designed with such freedom and disregard for the opinions of the masses that for it to be classed as just another "comic book movie" would be a disservice of the highest order, and in an era where the Marvel Cinematic Universe is clearly the holy bible of what audiences have come to expect from superhero movies, Joker is a satanic, incendiary work of madness which is by far the most original and boldly constructed so called "mainstream" movie in many a good year. 

With the influences on Phillips' movie wide ranging to say the least, the movie of course predominantly relies on its' central character's source material, particularly the grittier end of the comic book world including Alan Moore's critically lauded graphic novel, The Killing Joke, which also served as a basis for Christopher Nolan's and Heath Ledger's depiction of the character within The Dark Knight, and whilst Ledger's approach to the infamous villain was the darkest and most complex incarnation cinema audiences had seen at the time, the masterstroke casting of the brilliant Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) means that in the form of Arthur Fleck, the world bears witness to a Joker who takes the term, "sociopath", to an entire new level. With many already comparing Phillips' movie to the sheer isolation and hopelessness of Scorsese's Taxi Driver, the smokey, industrial wasteland of an early 1980's era Gotham means that tonally, Joker does owe Scorsese's classic a huge amount of debt, with the central narrative of Phillips' movie closely mirroring Paul Schrader's original script as we see Phoenix's Fleck slowly embrace the hatefulness and disillusioned hatred he has for his own world by being constantly subjected to violence, abuse and high profile ridicule at the hand of Robert De Niro's (Goodfellas) Murray Franklin, a popular talk-show host who in the eyes of Fleck, embodies everything that is wrong with a society which is determined to keep the rich intact and the poor struggling to survive. 

Whilst the movie does of course have an overarching social commentary regarding issues of capitalism and societal breakdown, albeit in a way which could have done with a slightly more subtle approach, Phillips rightly is more interested in using his chance to utilise the breathtaking acting skills of Phoenix as much as possible, an actor who in return offers up the most dedicated and physical performance to be seen this year as he beefs up his character with a skeletal physicality and an interesting condition which sees him laugh hysterically for extended periods without the ability to prevent himself from doing so. With another influence being Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here, an equally stark and stylish work of brilliance with Phoenix on top form, the similarities involving each film's leading character's relationship with their mother, their relationship with the outside world and their relationship with their own personal mental health issues does offer up an interesting double feature, and whilst Joker is of course the more mainstream of the two movies, the darkness and violent nature at the heart of it never gives away for the sake of appeasing happily paying audiences, resulting in jaw-dropping explosions of violence which reminded me of Drive and the infamous curb-stomp scene from American History X, and as the movie progresses into its' final act in which the narrative plays into a crescendo of Fight Club meets V for Vendetta, all the subplots in the two hours previous come to a mightily radical end, one which physically made me jolt at the bravery of a film which stuck to its' guns completely and became the better for it. Comedic and heartwarming Joker is not, and in an era when filmmakers need to break ground in the comic book genre to truly stand out among the money making behemoth's, Phillips has created the best DC movie since The Dark Knight and the most radical interpretation of any comic book character I can remember, and if you can stomach the violence and handle the sheer darkness at the heart of it, Joker is mightily impressive and rewarding in equal measure.

Overall Score: 9/10

Film Review: The Sisters Brothers

"Charlie, When You Kill A Man, You End Up With His Father Or His Friends On Your Tail. It Usually Ends Badly..."

Acting as a cinematic vessel for his first work in the English language after the critical success of foreign language gems including Rust and Bone and the 2015 Palme D'or winner, Dheepan, French filmmaker, Jacques Audiard, brings to life the 2011 novel, The Sisters Brothers, by Canadian-born author, Patrick deWitt, for a "revisionist" Western tale which blends True Grit style black comedy with Hostiles levels of realism, one all held together by a simply stellar cast led by the brilliant one-two of Joaquin Phoenix (You Were Never Really Here) and John C. Reilly (Stan and Ollie) as the titular brothers, Charlie and Eli Sisters. Already classified as a box office bomb after making just over a quarter of its' respective budget, Audiard's latest is a prime example of a finely crafted move which deserves to be subject to a wider audience but due to the likes of the awful, Hellboy, among others taking up cinema screens due to their "blockbuster" appeal, The Sisters Brothers is unfortunately not likely to be seen by many at all, a real shame indeed considering how enjoyably dark, comedic and thoroughly engaging Audiard's first foray into the English language is, with an added Jake Gyllenhaal. 

Working from a central narrative which primarily focuses on the blood-bound titular siblings, a pair of very differently minded yet infamous hit-men working under the command of Rutger Hauer's (Blade Runner) ruthless Commodore, Audiard's movie sees the bickering duo attempt to track down the whereabouts of Gyllenhaal's (Nightcrawler) John Morris, a fellow employee of the Commodore and private detective sent to locate Riz Ahmed's (Venom) Hermann Kermit Warm, after he is accused of theft. Whilst the movie does indeed follow particular genre conventions with hard-edged shootouts, campfire musings on the meaning of life and of course, alcohol-laden bar brawls, Audiard is undoubtedly much more interested in his central characters, with each performance wonderfully directed and expertly written, creating individuals rather than templates which make the drama much more emotionally engaging that I would ever have expected. With Phoenix blending that off-kilter comedic edge he has shown in the past in the likes of Inherent Vice with murderous sadism, his reckless ways are balanced by the lighter touch of Reilly, who amidst murdering people for money, comes across as the much more focused and rational of the pair, with certain set pieces in particular so well designed, you immediately recognise both the strengths and weaknesses of each without the need for exposition or clumsy dialogue. With superb supporting performances from Ahmed and Gyllenhaal, The Sisters Brothers is a tale of greed, redemption and brotherhood, and for a film which is being shown exactly nowhere in my local area, ironically Audiard's movie is one of the best of the year so far. 

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: You Were Never Really Here

"Joe, Wake Up. It's A Beautiful Day..."

Introduced to the ways of Scottish director Lynne Ramsay back in 2011 with the jaw-dropping, unrelenting and unforgettable We Need To Talk About Kevin, her Terrence Malick sensibility of putting the audience on hold for whatever project ultimately comes up next has resulted in a six year long wait for You Were Never Really Here, a similarly twisted and powerful crime thriller based on Jonathan Ames novel of the same name and featuring Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice) as Joe, a retired war veteran with a tortured psych and suicidal vulnerability who is tasked by a U.S State Senator in hunting down his young daughter who has been in lost in the seedy underbelly of a contemporary and morally duplicitous New York City. With We Need To Talk About Kevin setting the ground-rules for audience expectations when it comes to the mind of a director unafraid to tackle hardened and controversial subject matters, You Were Never Really Here is a hallucinatory, startling and entirely captivating work of art which merges genre within genres and results in ninety minutes of sheer white-knuckle tension and a collection of set-pieces which will rank up there with the best evidence of cinema audiences will see this year. 

With narrative similarities to Martin Scorsese's 1976 classic, Taxi Driver, something of which many have commented on already, Ramsay's latest is much more infatuated with the harrowing mind of its' leading character, the brutish, bearded and morally conflicted figure of Phoenix's Joe, a subverted private investigator whose specific speciality seemingly lies in locating lost children, a career choice somewhat channelled by his own troubling childhood and past traumas, elements of the movie which are highlighted in sporadic, sometimes terrifying flashbacks which couldn't help but evoke the ghostly imagery of the The Shining, particularly in the film's final act in which we see Joe scour the surroundings of an Overlook Hotel-inspired residence and is greeted with physical manifestations of his numerous nightmares. With the film reeking of style and a Winding Refn infused sensibility, the Jonny Greenwood score topples even his own outstanding work on Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread, with a mix of screeching strings and new wave electronica perfectly pumping up the emotion with one stroke and then creating an unbearable level of hostility and tension with the other, and with Thomas Townend's luscious, vibrant cinematography creating a staggeringly beautiful landscape for Joe's character to be absorbed within, You Were Never Really Here is a real treat for the senses. 

Whereas We Need To Talk About Kevin was constructed around a revisionist tale of the creation of man into monster which relied heavily on backstory and flashbacks, You Were Never Really Here only utilises these elements in an short and snappy basis, with the narrative much more linear in nature, and with the style and substance both accompanying each other majestically hand in hand, to call the movie anything other than heartily fulfilling is a complete and utter falsehood. Boasting extraordinary set pieces including a violent rescue attempt shown only through the ghostly image of CCTV cameras and a The Shape of Water-esque funeral scene which will be hard to to top as the most heartbreaking scene this year, Ramsay's film is a stunning achievement, one which features Joaquin Phoenix at a level of acting that's hard to better, and one which lives long in the memory after the final credits begin to appear on screen. With the seven year gap between her last and recent release, it seems Ramsay is indeed a filmmaker who desires quality above all else, and after experiencing You Were Never Really Here, for that is what the movie undeniably is, a groundbreaking experience, it comes at no surprise that her latest venture is very much worth the wait.

Overall Score: 9/10

Film Review: Mary Magdalene

"Are We So Different From Men You Must Teach Us Different Things..."

With 2016's Lion a solid and warm-hearted Oscar nominated directorial debut for Australian filmmaker, Garth Davis, expectations remained high for a cinematic second coming, no pun intended, and with the Easter holiday's swiftly approaching, a time in which kids devour chocolate coated eggs with less and less of an understanding each year regarding its' figurative meaning, the release of Mary Magdalene seems naturally apt. Featuring Rooney Mara (A Ghost Story) as the titular follower of Jesus Christ, whose religious and historical actions tend to primarily focus on her bearing witness to the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion by the hands of the Roman Empire, Davis' movie unfortunately conforms to the curse of the follow-up album by being a body of work much weaker than its' predecessor, a staggeringly dull and uninspiring let-down which works much more effectively as a medicinal cure for insomniacs rather than a religious spiritual mediation, and whilst I am all for movies which opt for a slow and ponderous sensibility over choppily edited spectacle in the ilk of Blade Runner 2049 and Mara's own strangely hypnotically strange, A Ghost Story, a film famous for a ten minute continuous shot of a character eating pie, Mary Magdalene is unfortunately an example of a film which uses the strategy and fails miserably. 

With an underwritten screenplay which seems to have been typefaced onto the back of a postage stamp, the lack of real adventure or push results in the on-screen transfer from paper to film one which is tortuously painful to endure, with the film lacking both a simple element of life and a substantial capacity for the audience to not only believe that any of the characters are believable but more importantly, interesting enough to care for. With Joaquin Phoenix (Her) cast as the prophetic figure of Jesus, his whispering tone and shaggy-dog hair demeanour results in a performance which manages to come across as the lovechild of Eddie Redmayne in Jupiter Ascending and Phoenix himself in Paul Thomas Anderson's Inherent Vice, and whilst Phoenix normally manages to pull off decent performances regardless of the overall quality of the movie, his performance is poorly directed and staggeringly dull. With two hours of film to burn through, Davis' movie just doesn't offer up a sizeable reason for why it exists in the first place, and even with a slightly interesting concluding contemplation, Mary Magdalene is the cinematic equivalent of a Tesco saver Easter egg; unequivocally bland. 

Overall Score: 3/10

Film Review: Inherent Vice

1970: A Drug Odyssey

Paul Thomas Anderson films in general, so far, have been films that I haven't really warmed to. I didn't really dig Magnolia and I couldn't stand The Master, so with this in mind, my expectation level going into Inherent Vice was rather flat. After watching it though, it's safe to say Inherent Vice is probably my favourite Anderson film to date, which in itself is faint praise due to my distaste for his earlier material. The film focuses on Joaquin Phoenix's, private investigator Larry "Doc" Sportello, and his plot to help his ex-girlfriend have her wealthy boyfriend Mickey Wolfmann committed to an insane asylum, yet that's as clear as the film's plot gets, with its' two and a half hour run-time being full of ambiguity and a distinct haziness which clearly attempts to parallel the drug-infested era of the early 1970's. The challenging nature of the film will definitely not be for everyone, particularly those who depend on a film's narrative being explained to the last detail, yet it's lack of explanation adds a strange layer of mystery, which in itself is rather compelling.  

Inherent Vice is full of solid acting, strong comedic moments, and a plot so out-of-control, it ends up being both painful and fascinating, Its' run-time is way too long, and the film suffers as a result, as many times I began to lose patience and checked how long we had left. Like I said, Inherent Vice is my favourite Anderson film to date, and it makes me want to watch his previous efforts again to see if it was just me and not the films themselves. Peace Out.

Overall Score: 7/10