I’M STILL HERE is the story of the billed ‘lost years of Joaquin Phoenix, where the Academy Award nominated actor, while rehearsing for for a charity event, discloses to the world that he is to quit acting for good to concentrate on a new career in, wait for it… hip hop.
I first heard about this movie right about when Phoenix appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman in 2009. The actor appeared on live television visably bloated and spaced-out with greasy long hair and a huge bushy beard; a massive shadow of his former self. I remember thinking to myself at the time… is this for real? During that interview you got a hint of Phoenix smirking to himself. Perhaps this is his ultimate acting job, a two year long exploration of a character that is merely an extension of his own self, documented by his friend and brother-in-law Casey Affleck. Or is it? Is this for real? Either this is a document of the downfall of one of Hollywood’s greatest modern actors, or it’s the biggest piece of commited method acting ever staged?
It turns out… it’s the latter. I’M STILL HERE is a mockumentary, very similar to the works of Christopher Guest and more recently Sacha Baron Cohen, as revealed by director Casey Affleck in an interview last September, just before the film was released theatrically and to be honest, I loved it. I love peeking into Hollywood lives, and essentially we’re still doing this here. Even though I knew that this was all preconceived, just how many people are in on this joke? During Joaquin’s ‘journey’ he meets and interacts with the likes of Jack Nicholson, Bruce Willis, Jamie Foxx, Mos Def, Robin Wright Penn, P Diddy, Ben Stiller and many more. It’s so uncomfortable to watch in places, just like that Letterman interview that we saw ‘raw’ when it was first broadcast. That whole sequence is included here, and it fits right in with the rest of the movie as just another scene, and works well.
To quote a commentator in the movie, it’s like someone turning the lights on in a bar at 2am. It looks terrible. His life looks terrible, but this is acting at it’s rawest form, the ultimate social experiment that exploits celebrity and the system, and it works… somehow. It’s hugely clever stuff and an excellent piece of filmaking, but it will not suit all audiences. Not everyone will ‘get it’, but it’s all plausable stuff that just could have happened in some other parallel universe. There’s no real conclusion or reveal, not even with any behind the scenes bonus material (though the audio commentaries on the disk does reveal details). We’re just left to make our own, and that’s what I dug about it too.
Manipulation of the media at its best. I would recommend it.
Grade: B+
Extras: We get a commentary byCasey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix, Nicole Acacio, Larry McHale, Antony Langdon, Johnny Moreno, Antony Langdon, Johnny Moreno, Eddie Rouse, Matt Maher, Elliot Gaynon and Sue Patricola, a separate commentary from Affleck, as well as Deleted Scenes (including commentary by Casey Affleck), Random Bits (including commentary by Casey Affleck), Alternate Ending (including commentary by Casey Affleck)
Joaquin Phoenix interview by Extra’s reporter Jerry Penacoli, Audio Conversation with Extra’s Jerry Penacoli, Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix, Audio Conversation with Christine Spines (Journalism Professor), Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix.
