‘I’m Still Here.’ Directed by Casey Affleck.
Studio: They Are Going To Kill Us Productions.
Distributed by: Magnolia Pictures.
Year: 2010.
Run time: 106 Minutes.
Gross Revenue: $551, 290.
I finally managed to get a copy of this documentary (or is it mockumentary?) after wanting to see it since I first heard about it. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it’s about the ‘downfall’ of Joaquin Pheonix after his apparent retirement from acting and career transition into hip-hop music. Casey Affleck followed Phoenix around with a camera filming various celebrity and public reactions to his music career, and eventually turned it into this film. There were a lot of rumours going around that it was all a great big hoax; some kind of performance piece on a grand scale, a commentary on the thin line between fiction and reality in the age of reality television. Indeed, Casey Affleck admitted shortly after the film’s release that it was all indeed a large hoax, with Phoenix making a return appearance of David Letterman to say how they wanted to make a film that: “...explored celebrity, and explored the relationship between the media and the consumers and the celebrities themselves.”
It’s really hard to review I’m Still Here in this context. Part of me suspects that things never really went according to Pheonix and Affleck’s plans. I think that they weren’t counting on people to call shenanigans so quickly, and as a result the film suffered at the very heart of its production. In this sense, you really have to work like an archaeologist to get at the ‘meaning’ or ‘vision’ behind the documentary. Is it a commentary on how fucked up celebrity worship is in the internet age? There are plenty of scenes that seem to point to this: Phoenix giving an interview to a shallow reporter with a fake smile, who treats Pheonix’s career and life very flippantly (think the douche bags over at TMZ.com.) Also, whenever Pheonix gives a musical performance or talk-show interview, he automatically jumps on the internet afterwards and reads up on all the commentary about it. The documentary shows various fan YouTube videos describing how Pheonix’s career is completely fucked. It gives you a sense of the public ruthlessness at celebrities who lose their shit.
If it is all a fiction then there is some great acting on behalf of Pheonix. After the infamous David Letterman interview, he climbs out of the limo that is driving him back to the hotel, only to climb a tree and completely break down, crying out things like “What have I done? I’ve left acting to do a hip-hop career, and the music fucking sucks! I’ve fucked up my whole life!” The solution to all the press hate is seemingly to return to his childhood home and swim in the river that he grew up next to. The movie ends with Pheonix wading deeper and deeper into the river, until he is completely submerged in it; a metaphor for fame.
Look, this is another movie were I don't know what I'm supposed to take away from it. I’m starting to feel like a big dumb-arse. There seems to be little closure at the end of the film; we don’t really get a sense of what is next for Joaquin Pheonix in his existential journey (an imdb search indicates a return to acting in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.) The movie is compelling enough, featuring scenes where Pheonix has sex with call girls (most likely staged), and his embittered personal assistant taking a shit on his face while he sleeps (please God, be staged.) They are all heart-breakingly, existentially, sad, but I just don’t think the great experiment was as successful as the pair thought it was going to be.
It’s a good movie, and it is thought provoking, but it might have been a lot better had the public not been so savvy.
Three and a half stars:
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