Review of I'm Still Here (2010) by Rebekah M — 18 Nov 2010

For anyone who is guilty of picking up an US weekly at the grocery store check out line to see the latest candid shots of celebrities or flipped through the channels and stopped at the TMZ show for a few minutes, I bet you will be interested in I'm Still Here. It's a new "documentary" where Casey Affleck follows his brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix around with a camera chronicling a year where he does lots of crazy things.

He retires from his acting career in pursuit of becoming a hip-hop artist. He lets himself go, grows a long scraggly beard and works on his beer gut. He takes drugs quite and smokes often throughout the film, and treats his personal assistant and caretakers like dirt. He appears to have gone off the deep end. On this journey he crosses the likes of many fellow concerned and/or flabbergastedcelebrities. Ben Stiller approaches Phoenix about taking a part in a script he has sent him, but come to find out Joaquin hasn't even read it. JP and his crew are in hot pursuit of Diddy to produce his rapping debut, and their encounters with Puff, and all the waiting and waiting to get a chance to meet with him make for some really humorous moments. Then there is the now infamous Letterman appearance, which still makes me chuckle. I think it is one of the biggest late night talk show moments in a long time. Apparently Letterman wasn't in on it. Either way, it was priceless.

What is this film? Is it a true documentary? No. Mockumentary? Maybe. A hoax? Depends on how you look at it. Who is the joke on? I don't know if there is real genre or tag to put on this work, but I think it's a little bit of both real and make believe. To me it is just an unbelievably ambitious and brave experiment that makes for a fascinating film. This is not really truly the way Joaquin is, but maybe it's an exaggerated version of himself and this was a way for him to express his sentiments towards the world of celebrity and his struggle with it personally. It actually ends up being one Phoenix's best performances. He is a talented actor, and I enjoy seeing him on screen. I'm hopeful for his return.

I really thought this film had so many funny and surprisingly thought provoking moments. If anything it was just interesting. It probably wasn't the right career move for either Casey Affleck or Joaquin Phoenix to spend their time, money, and talents on this project, but the ironic thing that I think this film shows is the right "career move" isn't always the best thing to do.

-JB.