Joker

Joaquin Phoenix delivers a transcendent performance in a morally repellent film.

Art by Boris Z. Simunich

Many actors have delivered amazing performances in movies that don’t deserve them but Joker is probably the best example of the distance between the caliber of the actor’s work and the rest of the movie. Directed with a sledgehammer by Todd Philips, Joker is not up to the level of what Phoenix achieves with his performance as Arthur Fleck. Phoenix paints a richly…