I’M STILL HERE

US, 2010, 108 minutes, Colour.
Joaquin Phoenix, Sean ‘P Diddy’ Combs, Antony Langdon, Eddie Rouse, David Letterman, Ben Stiller.
Directed by Casey Affleck.

The notorious Joaquin Phoenix ‘documentary’ about his decision to quit acting and become a rap star.

While Phoenix is on screen, and that is 99% of the film, there is time (a lot of time, lots of time) to think other thoughts, or connected thoughts, like ‘wrestling’. We know wrestling is set up to look brutal, tough and realistic, pounding an opponent, or leg-choking him or her, while it is all contrived to make the wrestler a hero in the eyes of the fans. They also have ‘Celebrity Wrestling’. This is something of what I’m Still Here is like.

Of course, there is the basic question that journalists and movie buffs have been asking for two years or more. Is this story of Joaquin Phoenix and his dramatic career change really true? Has it been a hoax (and this question gets a lot of play in the film)? Then there is the key question that a reporter asks, ‘Who cares?’. There are many repetitions of aggro sequences and many more lulls when the response surges, ‘I don’t’.

If Phoenix had not been a member of his famous family and if he had not been a movie star, could this bulky, wildly-bearded, semi-articulate oaf be intrinsically interesting?

Then, one spends time going through the alphabet to see if there are any funny variations on mockumentary or rockumentary. There are some vulgar ones. Perhaps zonkumentary might work but trickumentary, which this is, seems a little tame (and working out that the documentary on Chinese cooking could be a wokumentary, or the teenage acne study, pockumentary...).

Back to the film, what else is there to see and think about? Celebrity, mainly. Instant celebrity in a reality TV age and Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame. Why so much interest in Joaquin Phoenix or in his alleged career change – after all, he hadn’t given up showbiz to save the world? Why the entertainment industry hyperhype? Why the crowds at his (execrable) concert in Florida? Why the stalking paparazzi and yaparazzi? The only answer the film offers is a sense of bewilderment – though the whole charade was highly organised and promoted over the years.

And Phoenix is not an especially interesting or likeable person on this evidence. You really wouldn’t have wanted to meet him at this phase of his life – though the contrivance moves finally to picturing him as tragic as he ponders it all.

There are some compensations. David Letterman is hilarious with Phoenix as a reluctant, laconic, gum-chewing guest as is Ben Stiller’s impersonation of the hirsute, taciturn Phoenix at the Oscars.

And the end. Back to the home movie that opened the film, Panama 1981, and little Leif Phoenix being persuaded to take the plunge from a rock into a waterfall pool. Now big, older Joaquin immerses himself and swims underwater (his new womb for rebirthing), then a long, very long, very long take, camera following his shirtless back until he submerges again – to go back to acting? - (though it looks as though he never left it while making this film).

Casey Affleck (married to Summer Phoenix) obviously has directing talent with lots of camera set-ups so studied that they are for a fiction (even spontaneous vomiting sequences), the fiction of and behind the celebrity scenes.

1. The impact of the film as a film, the issue of reality or hoax?

2. The issue of who cares?

3. The issue of celebrities, the performer, the hype, the PR, the stunts, the crowds, the media, the paparazzi, the people fomenting celebrity? The spoofs?

4. Casey Affleck as director, his wife, sister of Joaquin Phoenix? The decision for the hoax? Phoenix himself, the bonds with Affleck, writing and producing, the camerawork?

5. Joaquin Phoenix, the Phoenix family, the beginning, the little leaf and his being urged to dive into the waterfall pool, the family, the acting careers, fate and the death of his brother, the careers? The end and his return to his father (an Affleck)?

6. Phoenix and his career, his success, Gladiator and the nominations? The collage of his career?

7. His decision about giving up acting, becoming a rap star, the public response, the media response, the events surrounding him?

8. His appearance, bulk, wild beard, manner, bohemian, language, inarticulate?

9. Antony, the interviews, his life, working for Phoenix, the later excrement scene, Larry, friendship, advice? The PR personnel, agents?

10. The rap career, Sean Combs (reality/joke)? The work, the contracts, the differences, the complaints, the final performance, Joaquin Phoenix his poor image of himself, the vomiting sequence?

11. People’s reactions, wanting to interview him, his sullenness, the premiere of Two Lovers? His interviews about the film? On the Letterman show, Letterman’s humour and making the taciturn interview a success, the issue of gum? The one and a half minutes Eddie program on television, the denunciation of Phoenix?

12. Phoenix and his friends, Ben Stiller, the discussions, the celebrities as themselves, Ben Stiller’s joke at the Oscars?

13. Phoenix as a person, his manner, way of talking, with Affleck?

14. The details of his life, travel, the premiere?

15. The set-up for the concert, Florida, his being sick, reactions?

16. The final reflective sequences, Phoenix in despair, a tragic figure?

17. Going back to Panama, the water, the waterfall, rebirthing, underwater swimming, the womb? The discussions with his father (an actor portraying him)? The long walk along the water, his final disappearance?

18. The purpose of the film, mockumentary, ego trip?