Anyone looking at this particular piece of writing is no doubt already aware of the Joaquin Phoenix “controversy” (for lack of a better term), so I’ll spare you the synopsis and history we’ve watched unfold on late night television shows, tabloid magazines and internet virals run amok from the past 18 months regarding said celebrity. In a nutshell, I’m Still Here plays as an entertaining character study of a man who’s been broken by his status in pop culture, so tries a different craft within pop culture only to break him down further. And ultimately, this documentary becomes more about what it is actually trying to rally against (media, tabloid culture, succumbing to celebrity pressures, etc.), yet at the same time, exposes the cruel world of media, paparazzi and social peers for what they are.
The film dances back and forth between humor, solace and melancholy on a moments notice. Rather than feeling pity for the man focus of the film, the movie mostly just challenges the audience to determine what’s real and what is not real. If the film is a hoax, which this writer is leaning more and more towards as I chew on the thought, then it is absolutely one of the finest method acting performances of all time; probably rivaling that of Andy Kaufman. If there is 100% truth in what we see on screen, then one cannot help but feel baffling bewilderment, accompanied by a twinge of pity.
The movie starts with a man rejoicing in his retirement and feeling like he’s about to open a new chapter in his life and then slowly decay into a shell of the charismatic superstar he once was. Drugs, attention seeking, lack of direction, lack of assertiveness and confidence, emotional instability and probably even a dash of mental illness all contribute to a sickly humorous downward spiral into a mockery of a man. If it wasn’t for mostly his own doing, it would be pitiful; but as it stands, what I saw on screen is simply a depressed ego maniac treating everyone around him like shit and blaming everyone for his problems except the man in the mirror.
This isn’t a bad thing for audience members. It’s highly entertaining and quite funny. The over indulgence in the drug taking can be a little Spicoli-esque (or Lebowski-esque for you youngsters) while the manic side in Phoenix veers more towards Mommie Dearest. With this writer assuming this is still all an act, it’s actually quite a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun and quite interesting to watch a lot of the events we already know about unfold with context (David Letterman appearance, the first rap performance and subsequent falling off the stage, the fan brawl, etc.). The subtext of media trashing (especially gossip sites) through almost covert or subversive film making is a fascinating use of the medium to make such a statement – whether the subject matter is faked or real.
Low budget film making with less than desirable picture and sound quality is more than made up for by its interesting characters, humorous (almost gag-like) situations, awesome celebrity cameo appearances as themselves obviously (Ben Stiller, Edward James Olmos are huge hughlights) and a peek into the normally shut-off world of celebrities behind their closed doors. I’m Still Here definitely drags in a couple of places and could probably stand to be about ten minutes shorter, but the more I contemplate the movie the more I like it. Are we being duped? If so, we’ll feel like the real horse’s ass for being tricked into emoting sympathy towards this man. Or is this the real deal and we should be ashamed for taking delight in another man’s suffering and downfall for stardom? Either way it’s a fun picture and should get a lot people talking that have (or even if you haven’t) been following this ordeal over the past few months. In my book, that’s a successful film.
The more I think about this movie, the more I love it. What “EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP” did for art, so does this film with pop culture media whores.
Apparently Phoenix will be on Letterman in a few days – I have a feeling we’ll learn the truth about what he’s had in his head over the past however many months.
Can’t. Wait.
Does Casey appear in this at all or is he behind the camera at all times?
Affleck is in it a very little bit. Not much though. His interaction with Puff Daddy or Diddy or Sean Combs (or whoever the hell he is now) is pretty funny.
“Naw man Jesse James was whack! What was the slick movie you was in?”
From NYT:
‘It’s a terrific performance, it’s the performance of his career,’ said Mr. Affleck … Virtually none of it was real.
So, that settles it.
Oh, and some other awesome news from that article:
“Mr. Affleck, for his part, will return to acting for a while, probably in a film for Andrew Dominik, who directed “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” for which Mr. Affleck received an Oscar nomination.”
Yes, please.
BRILLIANT! Phoenix just moved way WAY up on my list of favorite performers. Seriously. He was able to pull this off for over 2 years!? Incredible and the movie says a lot more about a lot of stuff other than just watching Phoenix act like a Buffoon. I’m going to try and see it again this weekend since nothing else is showing.
In other news… GO TWINS!
Even Ebert missed the entire point of this movie. Whether it’s a hoax or not is almost irrelevant.
I’m with you Andrew – I really enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing his re-appearance on Letterman. Should make for interesting viewing.
There is some serious hate out there for this movie and I can’t understand it. The filmspotting guys talked about walking out!? I think they missed most of the movie and were sleeping through it or something. “Lazy,” I think they said. Lazy!? A guy goes into character and method acts and travels all over the country like this and fools everyone for TWO YEARS and it’s lazy? Insane.
Not only did I think it was pretty damn funny, I thought the social commentary was terrific.
On one hand I like the idea of examining celebrity/public interactions in the Bizarro-Mirror-World that Affleck/Phoenix have been aiming at, on the other hand, the trailer and overall ‘character’ of Phoenix for this is kinda boring to me, making the whole thing a bit of a shrug. I have no hate for this project, but I do have a rather large amount of indifference to it. I guess I like the thesis more than what I have seen of the execution from the trailers and such.
More to say (more clearly anyway) on the Cinecast tomorrow night.
And I’m of the belief that regardless of whether this is fake or otherwise, it’s still entertaining. I think the message is not lost exactly, but difficult to get at with the looming question of “is it real or not” and but at the end of the day, I enjoyed myself (even if I was creeped out by JP for 80% of the movie). And I’m also not completely convinced that this was a hoax from the beginning – I have my doubts about that regardless of what Affleck says.
Agreed Marina, I am also a fan of James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces.
Barely got through that book (not the subject matter per say but some of the descriptions were a bit much for me) but I completely see where you’re coming from with the comparison and yes, we’re on the same page.