Joaquin Phoenix’s cackling baddie is unleashed today – here’s your chance to talk about whether Todd Phillips is trolling us, or if his film deserves all the
Oscars it can get
• This article contains nothing but spoilers about Joker
Few movies in history have had such an extreme pre-release experience. It is almost unheard of for a mainstream
Hollywood studio film to win the Venice film festival’s Golden Lion. And it is unheard of for Venice’s winner, usually an erudite art film, to inspire grotesque hate speech from fans on social media should anyone be the least bit critical.
A violent look at “how Batman’s foe got that way,” Joker has been hailed as revolutionary for its depiction of mental illness, but – at least in gun-toting America – screenings have been suggested as a potential trigger of violence. There’s been no shortage of conversation around Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix’s movie but until now, as is so often the case online, few people had actually seen it. Until now. Here are the pressing topics, only some of which are worth laughing about.