I have seen Joker yesterday at Venice an early ill-fated screening. We had some trouble with audio that lead to a near-hour delay, but it definitely was worth it.

Joker deserved to be presented at Venice Film Festival, an event that regards cinema as a form of art, because this film is far from a blockbuster or a mere entertainer movie, as most films in the genre are.

It focuses on the psyche of the main character, as it slowly crumbles under the pressure of society. And thus, Joaquin Phoenix does a wonderful performance, earning almost surely a nomination at the oscars at least. It's a take on the Joker that differs from Ledger's, but I'd say that both are equally as good. The main difference might be that Ledger's joker is a rational that acts insane, while Phoenix's is insane to the root.

Despite being a movie about a superhero villain, Joker is much superior to most of the movies of the genre (I'd exclude the Dark Knight Trilogy only, but Joker is easily as good as Nolan's movies, or at least very close). It is a small-scaled film, with a distinct style and cinematography (that cannot but be appreciated) and a set of very cinephile references that however do not feel too forced or overly opressive. (most notable are the similarities to Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver' and his 'The King of Comedy', but also Chaplin's 'Modern Times' is somewhat referenced).

I am eager to see more non-comedic efforts by Todd Phillips. This movie was so far probably the best of 2019 (at worst contested so far only by Dolor Y Gloria or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood),and that should be very convincing.

I get why some people hate this . It's because of the political message and how some people think that you need get empathy for Arthur's madness. But come on that is not the point and it will never be. Enjoy this masterpiece because Joaquin Phoenix and Todd Phillips overdid themselves with this movie . The acting,music and cinematography are just amazing ! Please enjoy the movie without overthinking it.

A pretty good movie; not quite the masterpiece that some would have you believe, it's too derivative for that, but it's still worth a watch and there's no denying that Joaquin Phoenix delivers an excellent performance in the title role. My main bone of contention with this film is that it really doesn't need to be tied up to the whole superhero genre, setting up the rivalry with Batman for at least half the running time; it's a better film than that and would have served better as a stand-alone psychological portrait of mental breakdown. Films this seems to have been inspired by include THE MECHANIC, THE KING OF COMEDY and of course TAXI DRIVER.