Put on a happy face


I don’t consider myself the biggest fan of the DC universe. Sadly, I’ve never read any comic nor watched most of their movies. Anyhow, I’ve always found Batman’s character fascinating. 7 years ago I started my adventure with the vision of Tim Burton which was perfectly suited. Back then, Bruce Wayne was portrayed by Michael Keaton, so he could be one of the best “retired” superheroes after 25 years in Birdman directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. He was accompanied by Jack Nicholson whose exceptional acting skills were exposed.

Another great director who entered the Gotham City was Christopher Nolan. He made a trilogy full of mind-blowing scenes. I would like to focus on the second part called The Dark Knight (2008). In my humble opinion it is one of the best movies that I’ve seen, and let me reassure you that I’ve seen a gazillion of them. Why’s that? Partly because of the Joker, a villain with complex personality. Heath Ledger didn’t act, he was the Joker all the time while filming it and even after hours. Some people say this factor might affect his mental health and contribute to his developing depression and it’s result, the suicide. Unfortunately he didn’t get to see his effort awarded by posthumous Oscar. Under no circumstances the choice was driven by the pityness, it was surely well deserved. There’s no doubt that this Joker was iconic.

The only Joker that I didn’t get the chance of watching was the one from the Suicide Squad ( David Ayer, 2016). The leader of the band Thirty seconds to Mars, Jared Leto always wanted to check himself at acting.  He appeared in Fight Club and Girl Interrupted, American Psycho, Panic Room. Thanks to such a background he got the main characters in Requiem  for a dream and Mr. Nobody. Working with the directors such as Nolan, Fincher and Aronofsky is a great opportunity, for some, one in a lifetime experience.  In 2014 my fingers were crossed so he could get and Oscar for his extraordinary role in Dallas Buyers Club directed by Jean-Marc Vallée who wasn’t much recognizable back then. Fortunately, nowadays, he is well known for his series. All of those who encountered for instance the first season of Sharp Objects and Big Little Lies (the second season wasn’t directed by him and I was extremely disappointed by wasting 7 hours of my precious life). Nevertheless, his role of Joker was only episodic and for some reason, not satisfactory for most of the audience.

When there’s no expectations you can be surprised, that’s what happened to the very first viewers of The Joker. So when it received some favorable reviews from La Biennale di Venezia it was already hyped. No wonder that everybody was impressed by Joaquin Phoenix. He prepared himself for this role extremely well. There are some rumors that he was working only on his piercing laugh for over than 4 months. Not to mention his approx.30 kilograms weight loss. The result is impressive. Casting him was the best that could have happened for the director, Todd Phillips, only known for the Hangover movies. Personally, I don’t like some of the easy tricks that he uses. Assuming that the viewer doesn’t have a good memory and reminding him five times of some facts is not my style. I like guessing, not having all of the answers. Sometimes mixing the reality with fictional world of psychopathic character works. That’s what I like the most about this movie. It makes you think about human nature. Philosophical questions are mentioned about who is to blame when evil appear, human instincts, uprising or society? The fact that it stuck in my mind for over a week is a prove that this movie is worth watching.  

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