I'm Still Here

2010
Director: Casey Affleck
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs

Plot: Documenting Joaquin Phoenix's transition from the acting world to a career as an aspiring rapper.

I'm Still Here is presented as a documentary about a tumultuous year in the life of Joaquin Phoenix, in which he retires from acting to start a career as a hip-hop artist. The movie is in actuality a mockumentary, afterall it seems unlikely that Casey Affleck would make a movie showing his brother in law doing tons of drugs, treating his few friends like shit, and excitedly talking about smelling the assholes of the call girls he's just ordered. But the movie is rarely comedic, unless maybe you are a personal acquaintance of Joaquin's and the whole movie is one big inside joke. Instead its a serious portrayal of failure and self implosion, presented earnestly as a real documentary. And for the most part Joaquin Phoenix "acts" quite well and we believe in his earnesty, so much so that many reviewers believed it was a real documentary. And its precisely this confusion of "what exactly am I watching?" that really detracts instead of adds to the film. Why was it necessary for Joaquin to embody this character so publicly, announce to the press that he was retiring, and generally act like a total dick in all his public appearances if it was all a character? Surely it was apparent that this little joke might cost him future acting jobs along with any kind of positive public image. In fact its distracting how much the film tries to make you hate him. There's a lot of boring melodrama where Joaquin endlessly berates a friend he suspects of telling the press his hip-hop career is a hoax for the movie. And see there it is again, by bringing up the the rumors that the documentary is a hoax we are repeatedly brought back to wondering what the hell is going on. Maybe if you go in knowing its a mockumentary all my bitching will be for nothing, then again I would not be the least bit surprised if a year goes by and Joaquin tells everyone it was actually real, but the footage turned out so embarrassing they decided to try and pass it off as a mockumentary, ZING!

Even taking into account from the beginning that this is a mockumentary, the whole movie still ends up feeling really pretentious, arrogant and confused. Is this a movie questioning what happens when a person takes their life and career and turns it into a fictionalized character for the sake of film? or is it about failure under the pressure of fame? Its got too much of both to discount one or the other as the main intent. If it was about life as film there wasn't anything really groundbreaking in this movie, in fact a follow-up documentary depicting the ramifications and consequences of this hoax on Joaquin's real life would have been much more interesting. If it was about the destructive quality of fame, others have done it better, particularly I have in mind the documentary Overnight (2003), documenting the rise and ego-maniacal downfall of Troy Duffy the writer and director of the Boondock Saints. There we had a genuine story, where it really was Duffy's life and career on the line. But in I'm Still Here we know Joaquin Phoenix is pretending as if he had a breakdown, and the fact that he threw away his real-life career for a movie feels self-righteous as though he knew all would be forgiven. The take home message seems to be then that Joaquin Phoenix is a dick, or maybe that Joaquin Phoenix wants you to think he's a dick. Because despite there being some sympathetic scenes in which we see him portrayed as someone desparately floundering, its all an act and I can't help but wonder how much in real life he bemoans being a famous actor. Doesn't it seem weird that under the pressure of fame in the movie business Joaquin's decision is to quit acting to seek fame in the music business? Maybe that sole story point was just intended to break the ice and make us laugh at Joaquin's rapping, but its so ludicrous that it detracts from the supposed realness of the film. I don't know, it was really a noodle-scratcher. Casey Affleck stated that he didn't think of I'm Still Here as a hoax, that they just wanted the audience to really believe what they were seeing, which unfortunately I think is the last possible thing the audience could think. Afterall, even my beloved Roger Ebert, who believed the film to be a documentary, still felt the need to start his review discussing whether it was possible I'm Still Here was a mockumentary. Also if you haven't already guessed this movie is a major bummer, making Mr. Moneybags go from a bit fussy to full-on cranky after watching this on a Saturday afternoon. There isn't anything inherently wrong with a bummer of a movie, but hopefully it should be interesting, and the novelty of Joaquin Phoenix being an ungrateful asshole wore off after about the 20 minute mark.