I'm Still Here
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I'm Still Here
Director: Casey Affleck
Writers: Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix
Stars: Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin: "I am just fucking stuck in this ridiculous, like self-imposed fucking prison of characterization."
Writers: Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix
Joaquin: "I am just fucking stuck in this ridiculous, like self-imposed fucking prison of characterization."
Was this a classic brainteaser? A case of whodunit? A punkish take on celebrity image in desperate need of a publicist's intervention or just a harmless joke? All I know with certainty is that it was not harmless.
How do we know Joaquin Phoenix? Like Timothy Leary once said about George Bush "He's just pixels on my TV screen. I know Mickey Mouse better than I know George Bush." The same can be said about the premise of "I'm Still Here", directed by Casey Affleck, a closer look at tabloid fame and its iconoclastic disintegration.
One of the best actors of this generation melts in front of the cameras like a creature made of clay, a madman raving about his upcoming challenge of being rebuilt. An artistic crucifixion just to simply prove a point, what the voyeuristic audience cries for, an insight into the famous lives, more info, a good seat to watch them do a metaphorical stunt, fall and shatter their glass image. Generously, his brother-in-law gives us front row seats.
Maintaining the best source of information glued to the lens, Joaquin's innocent intentions of pursuing a rap career and his heartbreaking dream to become his own self-made image are juxtaposed with the public's opinion howling laughingly while taking photos at his public personality's, unintentional or intentional, parody.
At some point he is ranting about his lack of contribution to what he is today, disdainfully he regrets but you see, he is tied to this machine now, not well-oiled as it should be but he still contributes in his special way and while staring at the wreckage, the endless satire and ridicule of his ex-cheerleaders download to the little cracks of light he managed to open, therefore blinded again by the spotlights.
Just like the depiction of him diving off a waterfall to impress his dad, this time he dives off the celebrity ladder to impress himself. Enacting his own existential showbiz bitterness or a fictionalized "what if" of himself, Phoenix's performance is one of the most deeply artistic and inspiring ones since the Andy Kaufman era.
Assuming it is a hoax, Joaquin risks his career after rumpling his image in this way, not an easy thing for a Hollywood actor to come back from, especially after dedicating two years of his life to expose the vapid star system and its faithful followers. I ask myself, is "I'm Still Here" a well-planned, intentional career suicide? If it is, he retires with, at the very least, a respectable bang.
Joaquin: "Is your dream unattainable or you just had the wrong dream?"
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