Review of I'm Still Here (2010) by Brad C — 07 Feb 2011

3: If I had to describe the picture in one word, it might be quixotic. Or perhaps inexplicable. Failure. Strange. Experimental. Depressing. Lacking in entertainment value. Etc. It's a hard slog to get through it as there are few rays of light and one doesn't anticipate things getting any better in the end.

Another way to describe it would be incredibly brave. Brilliant. Amazing. Astounding. Incredible. The problem is that these notions didn't necessarily occur to me as I was watching the film; they really only struck me after I had finished watching it and had moved onto considering what I had just witnessed.

In other words, there is little pleasure to be had from the actual viewing, but this doesn't mean the picture isn't terribly thought provoking and memorable. It really feels like Phoenix put himself out there and wasn't afraid to be thought ridiculous.

It seems rather incredible that someone could be this dedicated to their art and to an idea that they would risk everything for it. He turned his fame into a character for the world to see. In this sense, it is truly brilliant and groundbreaking filmmaking.

As he says over and over in the film, it does make him "look like a joke" and he obviously knew this would be the case ahead of time, but he went through with it anyway. The production values are extremely low and the structure haphazard.

I can't say I enjoyed it, apart from a few scenes, which were mostly the scenes of people making fun of him. I could imagine finding much more of it extremely funny if I were in the right mood and in the right environment, but that wasn't the case here.

If Affleck and Phoenix had struck a different tone, the entire picture could have been hilarious farce, but this was obviously not their goal. It's like watching a painful slow-motion disintegration that is ultimately only rewarding after the credits have finished rolling.

However, I do grant that the ending is rather striking. I was initially thinking this would be a 1.5 or 2 stars at best, but I've come to see its brilliance, if I'm not going to rush to see it again.