Zazie Beetz provides some much-needed humanity as Flack’s neighbor Sophie, and Robert De Niro is perfect as the callous talk-show host Murray Franklin.
But, despite its brooding tone, it has some laugh out loud moments of black comedy too – not surprising from the director of The Hangover trilogy. Unlike the Avengers franchise, Joker alludes to a recognisable social and political reality: one where crippling austerity exists uneasily beside a super-rich elite. Consequently, it’s a brutal mugging that initiates Fleck’s chaotic trajectory into madness and his eventual emergence as the Joker. Urban discontent is brewing and unemployment and crime are at an all-time high. Set in 1981, Phoenix is Arthur Fleck, a clown-for-hire by day and a hopeful stand-up comedian by night, who lives with his ailing mother Penny (Frances Conroy) in Gotham City. Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy, Brett Cullen, Marc Maron, Douglas Hodge.ĭirector Todd Phillips took inspiration from Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, two films about unhinged individuals on the edge of society.
