A killer joke

In March this year I blogged about a song that I'd heard just in passing and was sucked into what was a pretty astonishing work of art. I don't know how many times I listened to it but I wanted to wallow around in it and eventually I tried to put whatever I got out of it into words.

In October, it pretty much happened again but this time in movies. To be honest, in terms of movies in a cinema, 2019 has been pretty bare. I've seen some very good movies on planes and on Netflix but I have missed my chances to watch any flicks "at the pictures" (recalling the quaint way we used to say it when we were young). But within a month, I'd seen two pretty decent movies. Ad Astra was effectively my birthday movie. Although it probably had no connection of inspiration, having read Three Body Problem made it even more meaningful to me.

But the movie to make enough of an impression to satisfy a year without movies was Joker. I gladly walked in with very few expectations. I had read barely a jot about it. For all I cared it was just another comic book movie. I went with a friend who cared a lot more about comic book movies and he seemed pretty keen on watching it with me. Did he know that I would have more appreciation than others? I didn't ask.

I won't write too much about it other than it is a violently provoking movie and I recommend if you have darker taste for movies, you can't go past it. It's the 12 Monkeys. The Black Swan. The Mulholland Drive. The movie that is an inhabitable nightmare where you can make sense of things if you stand on your head. In this YouTubular world we live in there is far too much access to commentary, when in the past you'd have to search for cinematic soulmates or coerce others to watch to get some sort of prompted reaction. But the youtube world is always well populated. My yen is nearing satisfaction.

The only spoiler I would give is ironically the only joke said by the main character, who would become Joker, on stage in the movie: "When I was young, I told everyone I was going to be a comedian. And they all laughed at me. But no-one's laughing now!"

In other news, I ran a marathon yesterday. New PB of 3.22:54. First one after 40. Sore feet.