Joaquin Phoenix began his acting career as a child actor under the name Leaf Phoenix, appearing in small parts in a series of films in the 1980’s, the most notable being the Steve Martin dramedy Parenthood.
Though as he got older, Phoenix started using his real name with his first major role in Gus Van Sant’s To Die For in 1995. Since then, his roles increasingly became much more prolific, with much of his filmography receiving critical acclaim. Even when the film itself isn’t highly regarded, his performance is usually noted as one of the highlights of the film, such as his latest film, the DC Comics-based Joker, which focuses on the origin of the titular villain.
Phoenix has a very methodical acting style, and in turn is known to be incredibly picky when it comes to films he chooses to involve himself with. Because of this, while he’s regarded as an A-list star, his filmography isn’t as extensive as other actors of his caliber. He’s rarely seen in more than two movies in a year, and having taken a year off in multiple instances.
While his filmography isn’t as stacked as others, to coincide with the release of Joker, here’s a look back at five of Phoenix’s greatest films (in alphabetical order):
1) Gladiator
What makes Phoenix so great in this film is the fact that you really hate his character. And you enjoy every minute of hating his character. Phoenix portrays what is easily one of the best villains in all of film as Commodus, the evil son of Richard Harris’ Marcus Aurelius, who orders the death of Russell Crowe’s family, leaving him to die as well. Gladiator is an epic tale that not only offers some great character drama for Russell Crowe, but also proves to be a tense cat-and-mouse between Crowe and Phoenix as Crowe attempts to get revenge for the death of his family. One of director Ridley Scott’s finest achievements, this is a film that still holds up well to this day, and contains what might just possibly be Phoenix’s all-time best role.
2) Her
While Gladiator found Phoenix at his most hateful, Her finds him at his saddest. What seems like a setup for a quirky comedy but really serves as a subtle, heartbreaking character drama, this is an absolutely sweet film that tackles issues of loneliness and depression in the digital age. Phoenix portrays Theodore Twombley, who purchases an operating system, whom he names Samantha - voiced by Scarlet Johansson - with an artificial intelligence that’s designed to meet his every need. Unable to connect with other human beings, Theodore forms an unlikely bond with Samantha that leads to one of the most unlikely, subversive romantic dramas of the 21st century. Director Spike Jonze hasn’t directed a feature film since this 2013 drama, and while it’s uncertain if he plans on it anytime soon, this is a perfect way for him to end his film career.
3) Inherent Vice
While The Master is often regarded as the better of the two collaborations between Phoenix and Paul Thomas Anderson, I argue that Inherent Vice is the better of the two. Based on the Thomas Pynchon novel of the same name, the film finds Phoenix as Larry “Doc” Sportello, a stoner private investigator who finds himself in over his head when he looks into the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend. Paul Thomas Anderson is known more for covering subjects that are grander in scope, so this is something of a change of pace for him. But in the end, it’s a refreshing break from his normal work. The film plays very similarly to the Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski, in the sense that it follows one individual who gets involved in a larger plot that he really couldn’t care to be bothered with, yet continuously running into a series of oddball characters that throw him deeper and deeper into the fray. And Phoenix definitely channels just a bit of the same nonchalant energy that Jeff Bridges had in the former as The Dude. Of all PTA’s films, this is the only one that can be categorized as more of a cult film, but it’s sure a lot of fun and one of the director’s - and Phoenix’s - finest works.
4) The Sisters Brothers
It has a quirky name, and it is quite funny at times, though The Sisters Brothers can also lean into some heavier territory at times. Phoenix and John C. Reilly star as the titular brothers, two hitmen hired to a kill a man named Hermann Warm, played by Riz Ahmed, whose en route to find gold along with a private detective played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Phoenix and Reilly feel like two polar opposites, with Phoenix being prone to emotional outbursts while Reilly is the warmer of the two, although their chemistry can’t be denied, and they balance each other out quite well here. While the film is a nowadays-rarely-seen Western, it also heavily explores the themes of family dynamic, with the relationship between the two brothers being just as much of a driving force as is the cat-and-mouse between them and Ahmed and Gyllenhaal. By far one of the most underrated movies of 2018, this is also one of Phoenix’s greatest works.
5) Walk the Line
Here’s an interesting bit of trivia. While Phoenix and Reilly played brothers in The Sisters Brothers, years earlier Reilly directly parodied Phoenix’s role as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line with his film Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story in 2007. Walk the Line was part of a large string of musician biopics in the mid-2000’s that Dewey Cox wound up parodying a few years later, though it easily stood out as the best of the bunch. It hits a lot of narrative tropes that are seen in biopics to this day, but what really makes this movie such a fantastic watch is Phoenix’s standout performance, as well as his incredible chemistry with Reese Witherspoon as June Cash. Johnny Cash was a deeply troubled individual, as he struggled with trauma and drug addiction, and Phoenix really channels just how broken of an individual he was and allows the audience to connect with him with no trouble at all. While biopics tend to always follow some sort of formula, Walk the Line remains one of the best that overcomes its familiarity.
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