Joker is a film directed, produced, and written by Todd Phillips (his cowriter was Scott Silver). It is based around the DC Comics villain The Joker and stars Joaquin Phoenix as the title character. Phillips cites Martin Scorsese's films Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy as inspiration for his film. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, more than any film in 2019, and won Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix as well as Best Score.
The film tells the story of Arthur Fleck, a mentally deranged man who has aspirations to become a stand-up comedian and spread laughter and joy throughout the world, in spite of the fact that he is neither talented, nor funny. Fleck with lives his mother, who is also mentally ill and delusional. One day, after coming home from his day job as a party clown, Arthur murders three men on the subway after they attack him. These murders spark social unrest in Gotham City, and Arthur ends up starting a movement against wealthy citizens.
When it premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Joker received an eight-minute standing ovation from the audience, with many calling it a "masterpiece." Critics were split on the film's merits, and many worried that the film would spark actual violence at movie theaters. Richard Brody of The New Yorker wrote of the film, "A movie of a cynicism so vast and pervasive as to render the viewing experience even emptier than its slapdash aesthetic does." Peter Travers, on the other hand, wrote for Rolling Stone: "Forget the overhyped controversy, Joker is simply stupendous as entertainment and provocation, with a gut-punch performance by Phoenix that puts a horrifically human face on an iconic comic-book villain."
