I'm Still Here

Review by Anthony Morris

I'm Still Here is a tricky film to judge. 

Taken solely on its own merits as a "documentary" look at a celebrity's disintegrating metal state as Joaquin Phoenix throws away his career, it's long, plodding, only occasionally funny and relatively pointless. 

But when you take in the hype around it, which mostly involves the way star Joaquin Phoenix took his "performance" (it's still a slightly open question as to whether he was faking his decent into bearded nutbar status, but the evidence falls heavily on it being an act) out into the real world, including a famous interview on David Letterman's talk show, then things get a little more interesting. 

Not a lot more interesting though, as even then the question being posed is "is this really happening", which (when it comes to movies) is about the least interesting question to ask. 

After all, none of us actually know Joaquin Phoenix, and the film itself does next to nothing to establish any sense of him outside of his decision to give up acting for hip-hop - an area where he shows next to no ability. 

The whole thing only works if the viewer brings an idea of Phoenix to the film, and how many of us have spent any time at all thinking about what Phoenix is like outside of his acting roles? 

So perhaps as an attack on the idea that any of us can really "know" an actor we only see through his work (and celebrity culture) is has some merit, and to be fair there are some funny scenes here too, mostly involving Sean "Puffy" Combs playing himself as a self-serving music mogul. 

But without the big name at the centre of it all no-one would care, and blurring the lines between fact and fantasy (even his scenes of drug-taking and prostitute-groping are the kind of thing we've seen countless actors playing roles do) isn't all that interesting when both fact and fantasy are this bland.

2.5 out of 5

I'm Still Here
Australian release: 16th September, 2010
Official Site: I'm Still Here
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, P Diddy, Ben Stiller
Director: Casey Affleck