Published in Samaa news on Aug 29th, 2019,
Todd Phillips’ Joker is going to be the most anticipated film of 2019. The trailer dropped Wednesday and it shows the dark side of the DC Comics’ laughing psychopath.
Starring Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, the film promises to be “a gritty origin story of one of the most iconic villains ever”.
Arthur is a struggling and depressed stand-up comedian and amateur clown living in Gotham City. The film shows how the character slips towards insanity and how he fights against a cruel society.
The trailer shows that Arthur is in therapy, talking about his mother. He gets scolded on a bus for making a child laugh, his dreams of being a stand-up comedian are mocked, and then he paints his face and enjoys chaos and violence.
“All I have our negative thoughts,” says Arthur in a voice over. “My mother always tells me to smile, she told me I had a purpose to bring laughter and joy to the world.”
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Warner Bros has described the film as an “exploration of a man disregarded by society,” that is not a character study, but also a broader cautionary tale.
It focuses less on the character’s rivalry with long-time arch nemesis Batman, but more about his depression and factors that led him to become a villain.
The makers cannot decide which genre to put the film in, and simply said it is a tragedy. “It’s not a superhero movie, a super villain or a human being with special powers,” Phoenix told La Repubblica, an Italian publication.
Writer-director Phillips said they didn’t follow anything from the comic books. This is their own version of where a guy like Joker might come from. “We’re doing the story of becoming Joker.”