I’m Still Here
Fake documentary about the supposed retirement of Joaquin Phoenix, “I’m Still Here” has sunk a lot of ink, handling more than one audience. All this for that? Yep! People will remember the amazing performance of the actor and they forget everything else.
In 2008, Joaquin Phoenix announced his retirement from film to go into music. Smelling the big deal, his brother Casey Affleck decides to follow step by step in his new career. Over the weeks and months, the hero of “Walk the Line” decays, neglecting his health, passing his time taking drugs and swearing, becoming a shadow of himself during his stint with David Letterman where he is unable to talk about his latest film “Two Lovers”. A true artistic suicide of one of the finest actors of his generation.
Truth? Fiction? The question was on everyone lips until the filmmaker revealed that it was a hoax. Maybe he would have had to wait several weeks before deciding, though anyone could realize. The strings are so big, putting clearly evident, it takes very little time before discovering the pot to the roses. This does not change at all met for the first 30 minutes. The laughs are numerous and bold before the extraordinary adventures of this performer who sings hip hop like a Spanish cow, literally giving an earache to Sean Diddy Combs.
While the approach is not new, the themes remained in place commendable. In an era of increasing surface where the media swallow anything, Casey Affleck has decided to move their production voluntarily mowed (because the side for several knick-knacks is equivalent to greater authenticity) which is not there to deliver a sociological study on the danger of living in the Hollywood system, but to multiply the scenes of drinking and excess. In the 21th century, the “why” has no place to exist, it has been replaced by a horde of images in real time, a low-class voyeurism how “Jackass” where people delight in the misfortune of others.
Unfortunate that this critical load does not take the road more than a half-hour. Once it has been understood and assimilated, time passes slowly in redundant sequences that do not reinforce the basic premise. The rose so fresh and fragrant early fades almost immediately, leaving the viewer to fragments of a coherent discourse. In two years of work, it is difficult to believe that the director has not scripted his best book to explore the rich possibilities of his subject. In this chapter the final sequence is a perfect reflection of the situation. The traditional stereotype of being lost in the waves on a background of dramatic music is diverted to laugh – it totally works. Yet while stretching to infinity, preventing an output more surprisingly, that does not capitalize on a metaphor supported and redundant.
Nevertheless it is difficult to criticize anything to Joaquin Phoenix. The leading figure of “We Own the Night” is so blatantly true and it refers to the whims of Andy Kauffman who liked to manipulate his environment. Some lapses in his delusions did not prevent them from scoring for a long time film buff’s mind, far more than document ultimately very forgettable and a little whatever, who finally says nothing new or surprising about the company’s show.
