Film review: I’m Still Here
The opening shot of I’m Still Here , one of the Phoenix siblings swimming in Panama, is shot on location in Hawaii with actors. The final image of a bearded, overweight and broken Joaquin Phoenix sinking into the water is also shot on location. Cue his name appearing on screen to a black background – “JOAQUIN PHOENIX” – followed by “I’M STILL HERE”.
This film is not a hoax – it is a film written and directed by Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck where a fictional tale of Joaquin breaking down and descending into a spiral of drugs and self-destruction is designed to challenge the viewer and entertainment industry as a whole. To call it a hoax or a fake is dismissing a fantastic and strange movie experience.
Director Casey Affleck wanted people to go into the film thinking it was entirely real, which I believe is the only real mis-step here. Whilst the pretence was necessary during production to keep people guessing, by the time the film was released it held back publicity for the movie – and if you truly believe the movie is real, I think it forces the audience into a darker place.
The movie documents the life of “JP” – Phoenix’s ‘rapper’ name – from September 2008 into early 2009, as he publicly quit acting to pursue a career in hip-hop music. During this time he also quits shaving, takes a lot of drugs, and desperately struggles to be somebody in the music industry when he has no talent whatsoever.
I enjoyed the movie for several reasons. For one, Joaquin is such a good actor here I had real issues remembering that what I was watching was only an act. He completely immerses himself in the role, which makes for some heartbreaking scenes. The other stand out ingredient is that at no point during the journey do his publicist, manager or actor friends question what he is doing to his career or himself. In one key scene, Sean “P Diddy” Combs — finally listening to his music after being pursued all film — gently tries to tell JP he wouldn’t produce his tracks. At no point during the movie does anybody tell him he’s doing the wrong thing; they just stand back and let it happen, and in the case of the various interview appearances documented through the film (and on Youtube) people simply laugh at his face.
Over the space of 7 months, JP puts on several stone of weight – there are some shirtless scenes here Hollywood wouldn’t approve of – publicly destroys his career to the mockery of people online (which is documented in the film), descends into drugs and begins to lose his grasp on mental health.
At the end of the film, he travels to see his dad, who sits in silence smoking – almost a mirror image of JP. He then walks into a river and over the space of several minutes submerges under water.
In some ways, this film is the anti-Borat. Whilst that movie relied on heavily scripted situations – up to 95% of lines were written in advance, claim the Borat writers — its humour lay in making fun of other people. I’m Still Here‘s humour — and it is, at times, hilarious — sits with making fun of JP, and occasionally destroying the audience expectations of him being an Oscar nominee actor and generally famous person.
But this movie isn’t about the funny. It’s not really about fame. It’s designed to turn the camera back on the audience, and because it succeeds, it will never be commercially successful. It’s about somebody destroying themselves, and how appalling and horrible it is to witness – and how as humans we rarely do anything about it other than watch and laugh. It is a movie about the dark side of human nature, but JP isn’t the only bearded monster in the theatre.
