Joker: Movie review

Just watched it last night. A very good movie, spectacular performance from Joaquin Phoenix in portraying the main character of Joker. Many have said that it was an Oscar-worthy performance. I would concur, the acting was amazing, it was realistic.

As an audience, we could feel pity with the character as Joker descends deep into madness. The story-line makes you want to just keep watching, to just want to know what happens next to this sad sad character. Many gore scenes are included, so beware! Bloods spilling, heads being shot. I just wonder if there is any more that was cut, but the ones that were included in Malaysian screening was good enough. 

It follows the life of Arthur Fleck, a mentally ill middle aged man living in Gotham city, who works as a clown but has always wanted to be a professional comedian. He lives alone with his mother in an apartment. He suffers from Pseudobulbar Affect (I just googled this), a condition where one person could either laugh or cry uncontrollably if triggered.

Fleck is often seen laughing pathologically and this caused some issues with others around him, where people could not understand his behavior. The story deals with mental illness issue and portrays it to society as something that should be properly addressed. I could feel in the cinema that people were very pitiful of Fleck.

Fleck was fired, realized his mom wasn't his real mom, and was made fun of in television. All this (and more) eventually drove him to become Joker. 

Only to me, the ending could have been made more impactful. I feel that more could have been added to the ending, although I wouldn't say it was a bad ending. It was still good, especially when showing Joker on the car being cheered upon by the many rioters of Gotham city, and him finally feeling that he gets the recognition and attention he so desires. However, it could have been given more story and substance. But overall the story was fine, and I know this, because it was memorable.