Phoenix’s hypnotic psychopath, available to stream from next week, joins the brotherhood of those who have worn the supervillain’s painted smile – plus other compelling loners
To call Joker “the gift that keeps on giving” runs somewhat counter to the general spirit of Todd Phillips’s nihilistic supervillain spectacle: perhaps it’s the thief that keeps taking instead. Either way, it’s a film that refuses to go away. The better part of the autumn was spent debating the artistry and politics of an unusually polarising, pessimistic blockbuster as it laughed its way to a billion dollars worldwide. Just as the discussion threatened to die down, the film surprised everyone (and infuriated many) by leading the Oscar and Bafta nominations. So the pop-cultural litigation of a comic-book movie continues – just in time for its streaming release on Monday.
I’m a Joker admirer, I admit – and not just for its exquisitely grimy craft and Joaquin Phoenix’s punky, balletic, can’t-look-away performance. It’s a hard film to regard with particular warmth, but its unravelling of a damaged male psyche that’s at once overstimulated and underprotected, both privileged by default and neglected on the margins, has stayed with me over the months. It’s a film that careers wildly between a compassionate gaze and a dispassionate one, and is more conflicted than the “incel” culture rallying cry that its detractors claim it is. If you’ve resisted its pull until now, it’s worth deciding for yourself.