JOKER is one of the more controversial films in recent memory but also, potentially, one of the more celebrated.

It should go without saying, given that it is Rated 'R' but this is not a "comic book" movie; it's a movie by and for adults only.

I'm not sure I've seen a more skillfully made (and acted! – Joaquin Phoenix is the best actor of his generation) mainstream film in at least 4-5 years than JOKER. Granted, I don't go to the cinema nearly as much as I once did but I go enough to know a gem when I see it. Hollywood simply does not make films like this anymore. It is not perfect, but so few films are.

Without getting too deeply into the weeds, I think Todd Phillips (director) wants us to both empathize with and recoil from Arthur; often at the same time. Not unlike another anti-hero such us say, Tony Soprano, do we both revel in the violence he inflicts and at the same time find ourselves as passive bystanders, unable to do a thing about it.

What is JOKER ultimately trying to say? Is it about the eternal question of nature vs. nurture? Is it about a society than can step over the downtrodden or simply not even hold a door for someone but happily fill their lives with the utter meaninglessness that our mass-media culture vomits in our face 24/7? Or is it simply an interesting character study, a twist on the standard comic book narrative? I think maybe it's a little of all of these things.

But what's most impressive about this film is that it doesn't tell you how to process what you've just seen. There's no epilogue that instructs you how to compartmentalize your feelings post viewing. And that... is perhaps its strongest attribute.

JOKER is a very, very great film.

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Thoughts? Discussion?