Post by StevePulaski on Oct 15, 2010 22:33:09 GMT -5
Joaquin Phoenix is on the verge of a mental breakdown in I'm Still Here.
Rating: ★★★
In late 2008, Joaquin Phoenix announced his retirement from acting and that his latest film Two Lovers would be his last motion picture. I'm Still Here documents the year without Joaquin, how he lived his life, what he did, and so forth. The film is directed by Casey Affleck, Ben Affleck's brother and Phoenix's son-in-law. Affleck captures an unkempt, horrendous image of Joaq Phoen with a beard and black sunglasses. He is atrociously seen and almost makes the film hard to look at it.
The film, like I stated, is just about Joaq's life when the cameras weren't on him. Shortly after his retirement from acting, Joaq Phoen announced he would be pursuing a rap career with manager Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. Joaq's raps are inexcusably awful. This is what you call, atrocious music. It's barley understandable as he is presumably high when singing so what he is saying needs to be implied. Subtitles pop up frequently, but never during a song when it's needed desperately.
Joaq is almost always high during the film. He's slurring words, acting violent, is unresponsive, and an overall mess. He was an attractive, clean cut man in the 90's and when he did Walk the Line, I was stunned how well he played "the man in black". He put himself through Johnny Cash's life and even though biopics weren't my thing, damn did Joaq Phoen pull it off. But seeing him high and snorting cocaine half the movie is very saddening. You're almost crying for him and asking "why are you doing this?"
When Joaq goes on Letterman, it's just horrible to watch. It's shocking to see how he behaves. He's incoherent and unresponsive to Letterman as if he was talking to himself. He's a plain and simple mess. He's in a midlife crisis stage, no, worse than a midlife crisis.
What he was trying to do was quit acting to try and pursue a music career; we know that. Why? Because he was unsatisfied with acting because he pretty much hated that he was told to do things. What to do, how to act, what to say, where to stand, etc. He thought with music he could express himself the way he wanted to and not play by other's rules and be the man he intended to be. Instead, he raps horribly and is never sober. He doesn't drink very much, but smokes enough for a Peace crowd preventing Vietnam.
The film's "mockumentary" information wasn't released until it was in theaters and it was confirmed all the events were staged which I find ridiculous. The movie teaches a good lesson and is informative showing how actors live and the troubles they go through, but being all staged ruins the value of the film. If everything staged, why are we watching I ask? What could possibly happen?
I do like that the film isn't too obvious. I'm still not sure if in some scenes if Joaq Phoen is acting mad or if he is really pissed off. It reminds me of how unclear it was in Midgets vs. Mascots if Gary Coleman was really mad when shooting of he was just acting. Joaq Phoen gets extremely frustrated and stressed, mainly after the Letterman shoot which is definitely the film's turning/highlight point.
I'm Still Here is a shocking film that shows what Joaq Phoen was doing minus the camera. Casey Affleck does surprisingly a good job at directing and the footage shot with P. Diddy and with Phoen recording is definitely respectable. But I'm with Roger Ebert, if Joaq and Casey say it's a hoax and it turns out to be real and I see a Joaq Phoen album at Best Buy under Hip-Hop/Rap I'm going to be mad and pretty much so iffy with both of them. Can I trust two who have already fooled me twice? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix and Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. Directed by: Casey Affleck.
