Review of I'm Still Here (2010) by Andrew S — 16 Dec 2010

It's almost impossible to have any respect for I'm Still Here if you don't remember J Joaquin Phoenix's infamous David Lettermen appearance, or any similar appearance like that. It's obvious that the movie is trying to explore celebrity, which it does, but we can't really see what makes this exploration interesting without thinking about the hoax in real life.

We now understand that everything was staged, but Phoenix and Casey Affleck weren't just trying to pull a big prank to be silly. I'm Still Here is far from a comedy. It shows the relationship between people and celebrities. If you watch the Lettermen appearance on youtube today, it will be clear to you that it was a joke. Honestly, you have to ask how anybody took him seriously in the first place?

I think that is the biggest question raised in this film. What does it mean to be an artist today, and that is what Joaquin Phoenix is, an artist. Is it about artistry, or just entertaining people? But why is it that people believed everything was real. I think it's because people have come to take celebrities as jokes in the first place. You may give a great performance in a movie, and people will respect you for that, but they may always find your seriousness to your job to be a little weird.

What I'm trying to say is that people just believed it was like a celebrity to decide to retire from acting to become a rapper. Something strange like that is the perception of an artist. If you see the movie, you will get to watch Phoenix perform. He is not a great rapper. Actually, he's awful. Yet, the whole time your not even interested in his music. All you really want to see is Joaquin Phoenix making a fool of himself on national TV.

I hope I'm not sounding like I have all the sympathy in the world for someone in the position of Joaquin Phoenix. I just want to understand where these guys are trying to say with this movie.