Joaquin Phoenix is an eminent American actor who is ranked no. 12 of the list of top 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century by The New York Times. He started his career as a child performing in television and he started calling himself Leaf Phoenix he did a lot of shows as a child actor alongside his siblings.
Years later he changed his name back to Joaquin and started off his film career. He has done great film and has given marvelous performance in all leaving his stunned after each role.
Joaquin Phoenix movies you must watch:
1. Joker (2019) :(IMDb: 8.4/10)
Joker is considered Joaquin’s best performance till date. He played the character of a failed comedian Arthur Fleck who works as a day time clown who is dealing with isolation, bullying and being neglected by society. The character has shown to have symptoms of many mental illnesses as well and the movie portrays how slowly the character is slipping into lunacy and becomes destructive committing crimes and finally becoming criminal mastermind Joker. (D.C comic character)
The movie is a dark psychological thriller with a story that won’t let you take your eyes off the screen and will leave you completely dumbfounded. From cinematography to direction to the commendable acting for Joaquin and the supporting actors, everything is impeccable. The movie also has the legend Robert DeNiro who fun fact is Joaquin’s favorite actor. Joaquin worked very hard for this role he lost almost 52 pounds to get into the character and he won the academy award (Oscar) for Best Actor for his role of Joker.
2. Walk the line (2005) (IMDb: 7.8/10)
Walk the line is another beautiful movie by Joaquin and a must-watch. The movie is the biopic of the sensational Man-in-black Johnny Cash played by Joaquin. The movie portrays Johnny’s career and how his career took flight when he got to go on tour with the famous June carter. (who later becomes his wife) The film beautifully showed the romance between Johnny and the love of his life, June, and his ascent into the country music scene.
The movie won many awards which include 5 oscar nominations, Joaquin got nominated for best actor and the film’s soundtrack won Grammy Award for best the best compilation soundtrack. Joaquin recorded and performed all the songs in the movie himself.
3. Her (2013) (IMDb:8/10)
Her is a story where the protagonist Theodore Twombly,i.e Joaquin is a scribe for a greeting card company that personalizes messages and gifts for people on behalf of them. Theodore has suffered from a broken marriage and is portrayed as a melancholy man looking for a companion when he comes across an AI operating system and buys it to help him write but finds out it has capabilities to learn and later on even develops feeling just like humans which makes Joaquin fall in love with her as he finds comfort with sharing his feelings with it.
The movie has shown surreal emotions and amazing screenplay, the acting by Joaquin is beautiful the way he goes with the character is unreal, the AI is voiced by Scarlett Johanson which is literally hypnotizing. The movie is undeniably the best romantic sci-fi out there.
4. You were never really here (2017) (IMDb:6.8/10)
“You were never really here” is a psychological thriller starring Phoenix as Joe who is a traumatized mercenary portrayed as being very brutal and unmerciful and thus, assigned by a politician for a rescue mission of his daughter who’s being kidnapped by a group who kidnaps underage girls in New York basically human traffickers. The movie is based on the novel of the same name by Jonathan Ames. The movie was released in 2017 during the Film Festival Cannes where Phoenix won the award of best actor.
The movie is said to be one of the best and raw performances of the actor, he has definitely done an exemplary job.
5. Gladiator (2000) (IMDb: 8.5/10)
This movie is a classic historical drama. Phoneix got his first-ever Oscar nomination for this role. The movie is set in ancient Greek and Joaquin plays Commodus who is Son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius and he has murdered his father to seize the throne. Maximus played by Russell Crowe was Emperor’s favorite generals and was preferred for the throne by was demoted by Commodus. Maximus then rises as Gladiator to take revenge for the murder of his kin and his beloved Emperor.
The film won multiple awards including 5 Oscars and was the second highest-grossing film of 2000.
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