What do you know about the Joker? Can you name a Joaquin Phoenix movie from just the image?
That’s the quiz at hand folks, try to guess all 20 of his films in this quiz from a single image. To be honest, I didn’t realise all of his earlier movies, and it’s quite amazing to see the body of work that he has outputted in his acting career. You have to remember that he was the younger and inferior actor to his brother River at the outset of his career.
Sure, the family was all a bunch of hippy artists, but River Phonenix was the break out member of the clan after his big role in Stand By Me. Here are some of my fave Joaquin Phoenix movies, even though I struggle every time to write the word ‘Joaquin’.
Gladiator
He played both a treacherous fiend as the Roman emperor as well as cowardice child. I was wowed by this film when I first saw it, and honestly, I thought he stole the picture. I was captivated by his brevity of pause as a performer and his ability to cause emotion through only his trembles. He was a great bastion of evil in this role to Rusell Crowe’s ‘Commodus’. Gladiator was the movie where I really started to follow him.
Signs
M Night has had some hits and misses, and this movie was kind of in the middle for me. It has taken a few watches for me, but I really like Joaquin in the role as the crazy, fun uncle. He plays nicely off the solid Mel Gibson, and the kid and you kind of want to follow his journey with the aliens in the film. Subtle yet sincere. He plays an everyman in the situation of an interstellar invasion scenario.
You Were Never Really Here
I hate pedophiles, so it was nice to see a movie where they die. He plays action with a sombre buzz of a deadened soul. His catalyst as a momma’s boy with nothing to live for really makes this picture move. As he propels himself forward for this kid, nothing will stand in the way, and nothing else matters. The halcyon moments at the end of the chaos are sublime, and Joaquin is splendid as the unwanted murdered who sees his plan through.
If you want, try this quiz on your friends and see how many they can get. I doubt anyone can get 20/20 on the first go, but see how you do.