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I'm Still Here
I'm Still Here is a portrayal of a tumultuous year in the life of actor Joaquin Phoenix. With remarkable access, the film follows the Oscar-nominee as he announces his retirement from a successful film career in the fall of 2008 and sets off to reinvent himself as a hip-hop musician. The film is a portrait of an artist at a crossroads and explores notions of courage and creative reinvention, as well as the ramifications of a life spent in the public eye.
Release : | 2010 |
Rating : | 6.2 |
Studio : | They Are Going To Kill Us Productions, |
Crew : | Assistant Camera, Camera Operator, |
Cast : | Joaquin Phoenix Casey Affleck Jack Nicholson Billy Crystal Danny Glover |
Genre : | Drama Comedy Music |
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Reviews
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
My goal was to avoid this movie. I even imagined spending my entire 15 minutes of fame advertising this fact. It was the only way I could possibly maximize Joaquin Phoenix's chances of hearing about my protest. Much too lazy and impatient to wait for my spotlight, however, I finally gave in and watched it last night.The movie features actors, playing roles. A joke is implied. I didn't end up getting it. This made me feel the joke was on me. I didn't like that feeling, which is not to say I can't laugh at myself. But in order for me to join in my own deprecation, I need to understand the gag. This realization didn't sit well with me. Afterward, a few things occur in the movie that may or may not be scripted. Then credits mentioning a host of important friends roll, signifying the end.It's a vehicle, about which only one thing need be said: see summary.
Huge trip of Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix who decided to film in this mockumentary the fake career change of JP, from the movie set to the recording booths as an apprentice rapper.Now that everyone knows this was a hoax, the movie becomes pretty much pointless and will only be remembered for a few memorable scenes like the final rap at the nightclub and the fake fight that followed.Still, this movie should be seen at least once for the rather incredible performance of the actor who had to embody his role of a wannabe rapper for a year and a half on each public appearance which might have been his most difficult and greatest role to date.
Had this been produced before the time of the Internet and Youtube, it would have been beyond pointless. After all, who would we have needed Phoenix playing a mumbling, unpleasant and utterly untalented and unlikeable wanna-be rapper? Nobody, since people like Sascha Baron Cohen and the "Spinal Tap"-crew had done it already a long time ago. Or Eninem and Vanilla Ice.If you're into make-believe-comedy, you might ask yourself: "Hasn't Andy Kauffman done this 30+ years ago?" Yes he did; very successful and very funny. In comparison, "I'm Still Here" is neither funny nor successful. It's tedious and rather pathetic to watch. What was the point of making Phoenix look like a vagrant Jim Morrison and, in the post-MTV age, turn him into a Hip Hop artist? Casey Affleck may have watched "Being John Malkovich", but whether he learned something from this film is questionable. Taking the title from another surreal biopic, namely "I'm Not There" (about the life and times of Bob Dylan), is a dead giveaway concerning the 'wit' that has gone into this project.Who else has pulled off a similar stunt in recent years? To mind comes Sascha Baron Cohen and his Bruno/Borat personas. Again, the fundamental difference being that Cohen intends to entertain and does so successfully. "I'm Still Here" doesn't entertain - it depresses because you know it's so obviously fake and that there will be no laughs had. If Cohen tries to tickle laughter out of his audience then Phoenix is content to do exactly the opposite.But in the context of the Youtube-phenomenon, where Andy Warhol's prediction has perversely come true and everybody – bloggers, vloggers, trolls and the boy/girl who screamed "Leave Britney alone!" – are all celebrities in their own rights, the film may raise one or the other interesting question.Like this film, the internet is filled with what internet-terminology is called "fail". "Fail" implying that the joke is always on you and only a lot of self-deceit will prevent you to realize that people are not laughing with you but about you. In this dimension, celebrity isn't measured in terms of money but by the number of clicks views – and whether you're filming yourself pushing pins into your forehead or presenting the world's most awful rap-performance, in this global "Truman Show" a "fail"-video will invariably get the most views. A global "Truman Show".Take those pathetic, pointless and humiliating videos and put them together into an hour and a half long film, what you get is "I'm Still Here" – but with more celebrity gawking.If you wanted to document a broken, freakish celebrity in the public limelight, why don't you just make a movie about Michael Jackson or Punk Rocker GG Allin? It might have saved two years of Phoenixes life (not to mention his credibility, both as actor and person).Am I being too generous to give the film 2 points from 10?
A performance in a poorly written story. Casey Affleck and Joaquin focused to much on the character development and not enough on writing. The final edit comes together like some loosely joined college art film. The interviews from Casey Affleck make him sound like you are stuck on a date with an untalented musician talking about their new album. Very similar to Joaquin's character in fact. I really don't think there is much that is special about this film, except some individual sequences. These shots strung together make for a poor story. The fact I walked away from a movie not feeling for or identifying with the character, did interest me, but all in a negative way. Shouldn't the reader/viewer be able to identify with the character and their struggles. This just makes both Affleck and Phoenix (and perhaps all of Hollywood) come off as more disconnected from reality then the people they are making films for. To think that their is such a circle that no matter how unsuccessful your endeavors are that there really is no consequences for certain people. They always have their PR team and an entourage telling them their crap doesn't stink to fall back on, and when all else fails you can fly home to Daddy on a private jet.