Review of I'm Still Here (2010) by Shiira — 20 Sep 2010

You will feel it in your bones. "I'm Still Here" is real, contrary to the official statement made by the filmmaker claiming that it's not. The documentary plays like a byproduct of an intervention, a documentary with cross-purposes, unbeknownst to the subject, whose family and friends were at a loss as to how they could reach the drug-addled star of "Walk the Line", and most recently, James Grey's "Two Lovers".

Think about it: the Phoenix clan is like the Kennedys of Tinsletown; they didn't want to lose both brothers. Could Joaquin be that insensitive, to knowingly make a mockery out of the drug-related circumstances which surrounded his older brother's death? In "I'm Still Here", he smokes pot; he snorts coke, the very things that helped kill River Phoenix back in 1993, without the slightest bit of camera awareness.

That's how far-gone Joaquin was at the time. Never mind the haphazard locks and unruly facial hair; just focus on his gut. A sane person puts on weight for a role with prestige, as did Robert DeNiro when he portrayed Jack LaMotta in Martin Scorsese's "Raging Bull", not some home movie shot by his brother-in-law.

This is pure speculation, but here's my best guess as to what the actor was thinking, and what the filmmaker was thinking: Joaquin, the pampered celebrity, encircled with sycophants who exalt his every move, actually believes he can rap, so the actor in transition participates in the project under the pretense that "I'm Still Here" will predominantly be a music documentary, a behind-the-scenes look at his second career from the ground level up, whereas the brother-in-law, abetted by the people who have no stake in Phoenix's professional life, want to burst his bubble.

Now that Joaquin's camp is proclaiming "I'm Still Here" to be a hoax, consider the bubble burst, as the actor perhaps finally sees for himself the evidence mounted against him, in regard to his "talent" as a hip-hop recording artist.

Joaquin's camp would like us to believe that Phoenix was pulling an Andy on us, or goofing on Spike Jonze, whose "Being John Malkovich" features a lengthy segment where Malkovich retires from the acting world in order to be a puppeteer.

But just remember, before you abide by the press release, truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction. After all, Michael Jordan tried his luck at baseball. "I'm Still Here" served as a reality check for Joaquin; he's no Eminem, he lost himself, but getting off drugs and getting a sympathy hug from P.

Diddy helped the actor "snap back to reality".