I’m Still Here
Screen Rant ’s Mike Eisenberg ReviewsI’m Still Here
Ever since Joaquin Phoenix in public announce his retreat from acting , ( some ) people have been hurt to bonk one thing : Was the promulgation real or a humbug ? newsworthiness of a documentary film by crony - in - law / chap actor Casey Affleck only foster suspicion that it all might have been for show . Now thatI’m Still Hereis in theatre of operations , the answer is still as ambiguous as ever .
But in the death , it really does n’t matter . Whether the story is reliable or not ( a debate that is sure to storm for a long sentence after this ) , the film yet presents a story - about a humankind searching for his rightful identicalness in the often fake world of celebrity - that is as gripping and moving as any indie or play flick that I ’ve figure in recent years . Spend as much time as you care trying to tell apart the realism of it all , but if you do you ’ll miss the material show .
Casey Affleck has put together one of the most mesmerizing , horrific , deplorable and uproarious ( mock ? ) documentary film in recent memory . While his work is pinpoint , one could indicate a documentary is only as compelling as its subject . And Joaquin Phoenix is one interesting topic indeed .
I ’m Still Herejumps mightily in with a short collage of childhood telecasting , which include an extensive home video of a young Joaquin preparing to jump off a 15 - substructure waterfall . His willingness to make the leap , despite reverence , signifies an insistent metaphor for the moving-picture show that pursue . When we catch up to the now - whiskery Joaquin , he is exasperate by the fake personality he is force to present as an doer . This freaky theatrical role we ’ve come to expect of him is not the act - at least not according to Phoenix . He is tired of being told how to act , how to dress and where to place upright . We find the outgrowth of what he believe to be the true valet de chambre inside of him .
If you wanted some arduous evidence that this whole thing may be a hoax , the existent observance of his decision to quit playing may be it . Had Phoenix ’s protagonist and confidant , Casey Affleck , heard of the decision and then commence document the consequences , my chemical reaction may have been different . Either way , the calamity that unfolds is dumfounding .
I ’m Still Hereis a collection of bit . It ’s not an E!True Hollywoodepisode , nor is it an instalment ofThe Hills- it is somewhere right on in between the two . There are sequences of sheer unpredictability , while others are events that have become ingrained in the social psyche ( like Phoenix ’s Letterman equipment failure ) . WhereasThe Hillsmay be a show base on literal people , it is full of compile relationships and fake interaction - precisely what many argue is the focus ofI’m Still Here .
What is completely unpredictable is the amount of drug abuse , sexual aberrance and internal torture that Phoenix is a part of in the documentary . This is one of the more universal gas constant - rated documentaries you ’ll see this twelvemonth . Between the multiple scenes of cocain use are moments of offer full frontal nudity ( not Phoenix ) and other events unmentionable on this website .
But the first half of the documentary is more about a nonsensical mess than a dissection of a performer ’s torn soul . I determine myself express joy incessantly at the havoc that ensued and the slurred idiocy of Joaquin ’s declination into folly . He is absolutely off the reservation for the duration of the integral documentary film . But throughout all of this , he has an unjustified expectation of the world around him , as he get out acting to pursue a career rosehip - hop artist . Phoenix fully expects the fruits of his onscreen labor to equalize prompt respect from his peers and the public . But this is a man who simply can not hear the horridness of his own medicine - or perchance chooses not to .
Casey Affleck directing Joaquin Phoenix in ‘I’m Still Here’
His ambition is still observable as Phoenix prosecute his rap dreams - his dedicated assistants help him without any indisposition , which poses further questions as to the world of it all . But still , his utter realism and the openness of his character reveal the honest personal identity ofI’m Still Here . It is a film about a misguided soul who expects to achieve something substantial in the hip - hop industry , even though his euphony is nasty . When his flaky dream come to a crash halt , I could n’t help but be torn apart by his disappointment .
Joaquin Phoenix has long been one of my favorite actors . His performance inGladiatorpropels the film to unique heights for me . It ’s important that I say this , because it may be why the infotainment fetch me to binge . It was n’t theJackass - similar moments of stupidity or his awful music ; a little past the halfway mark , things take up to really go downhill for Phoenix and he start to recognize that nobody honour him . From his fanboy - like fixation to impress P. Diddy to his nuclear meltdown onThe David Letterman Show , it is one catastrophe after another .
I found myself heartbroken that he had become so lost in this cognitive process . Whatever it is Phoenix is trying to carry through and no matter how invent you opine it is , his journeying is heartbreaking . If it ’s all a fraud , then it ’s a put-on which only bear witness that Phoenix is one of the best actor in Hollywood .
But instead of constantly looking for crack in the reality , I ’d urge that viewers just sit back and carry viewer to a man bust at the seams of his life . This is a human being all lessen aside and it is all caught on tape . The last 20 minutes are as spirit - wrenching as most Oscar - succeed dramatic play .
And this brings me to Casey Affleck .
Affleck conducts a symphony orchestra of emotion and realness to land us the most naturalistic ( not the same as genuine ) portrayal of a broken and lost somebody in recent memory - it ’s also a plastic film which serves as a scathingly knavish and insightful commentary on the twisted man of famous person . I’m Still Hereis not just a report of Joaquin Phoenix , everybody is under the spotlight , even without a single off - site interview - another aspect that makes this documentary appealing . Phoenix ’s helper are push to the sharpness , and not everybody can hang on . Celebrities litter the screen and their reactions to Phoenix ’s personality shifts are invaluable . Affleck retrieve his style on photographic camera on occasion , but he is as enigmatic as the main fictional character .
Casey Affleck directing Joaquin Phoenix in ‘I’m Still Here’
It is n’t until the bitter oddment of the roller - coaster documentary film that Affleck rightfully amaze an opportunity to sit in the director ’s chair . distinctly , the absolute majority of the plastic film is all on the shoulders of its star , Joaquin Phoenix , but when the group heads for Panama , Affleck turn the infotainment into a gorgeous , Terrence Malick - same journeying into Phoenix ’s someone . The scene , coupled with mesmerizing music , is only broken by Phoenix ’s sloppy consistence as it slowly descends into what can only be compared to the jungle ofApocalypse Now- full of sadness and deep thought process .
This documentary film is one of the most engaging of its kind . The only true way to uncover its straight identity might be to get out what fell on the cutting way floor . for sure there are unobserved moments that reveal the true unity ( or clamant fakery ) ofI’m Still Here . But if you spend the 108 minutes trying to figure it out , you ’ll surely miss the smasher of it all .
Laugh at the stupidity and then pity the wagon train wreck . It will snipe all of your skunk , but only if you permit it .
Check out this clip from the plastic film , where Joaquin Phoenix try rap career advice from Diddy :
