{"id":555,"date":"2010-09-10T05:39:12","date_gmt":"2010-09-10T12:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=555"},"modified":"2010-09-10T05:39:12","modified_gmt":"2010-09-10T12:39:12","slug":"daily-dose-review-im-still-here-take-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=555","title":{"rendered":"Daily Dose Review: I’M STILL HERE (Take 2)…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nTo restart one\u2019s life, you have to destroy the one you have. That\u2019s one of the themes of the self-destructive documentary film I\u2019M STILL HERE opening in limited release this weekend.<\/p>\n

Whether the story told within the film is true and accurate has been up for much debate. Most critics seem to have taken the position that the film is a fake or faux documentary commonly called a \u201cmockumentary.\u201d After seeing the film, I came away thinking that it was real. Sure, many of the events have been staged and even exaggerated for greater effect on the viewer. But what happens in the movie appeared to have really happened. And I\u2019m not sure if the staging matters, the point the movie makes is well made.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the story, sometime in 2008 two-time Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix announced that he was retiring from acting. Whether this was a publicity stunt is irrelevant, because the announcement was made, and aside from this questionable documentary, Phoenix has not made a traditional film or \u201cacted\u201d in the classic sense of the word since his \u201cretirement.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the story gets more bizarre. As part of his retirement, Phoenix chose to change his public persona from Joaquin Phoenix to \u201cJP\u201d the hip hop artist. Again, this really happened. As displayed in the film, JP put together a recording studio in his home and pursued a new career as a rap artist. This isn\u2019t a joke. JP is shown pouring over his lyrics, practicing and mixing his music. And in several widely reported and disastrous performances he took to the stage and delivered his mumbled beat accompanied poetry. It\u2019s all very humbling. If this was a stunt and a joke, the butt of the joke is JP. Phoenix is depicted as arrogant, drug addicted, and perhaps mentally unstable. It isn\u2019t very flattering.<\/p>\n

The descent into madness chronicled by actor turned filmmaker Casey Affleck (the little bro of Ben) might have many contrived and created elements, but the central truth is the destruction of a career. If Joaquin Phoenix does return to acting again, no one will treat him the same way again. Playing like a PUNK\u2019D skit gone terribly wrong, I\u2019M STILL HERE manages to creep up on the viewer as JP\u2019s decline reaches unparalleled levels. And the train wreck is impossible to avoid watching. <\/p>\n

After Phoenix\u2019 embarrassing appearance on the Letterman show, we are treated to what happened next. The camera, which is always present, takes it all in. JP wears the microphone as well as his heart on his sleeve. And the four letter words that unintelligibly opened the movie begin to sink in. After more than an hour of JP\u2019s droning and moaning, we adjust to his speech rhythm and patterns. And what JP says is revealing of his soul. If you want to reimagine yourself, you have to forget who you were. And as colorfully depicted here, the new you might be worse than the old version.<\/p>\n

I\u2019M STILL HERE will most certainly be compared to the films of Werner Herzog (GRIZZILY MAN) whose documentary work often blurs the line between fact and fiction. But this hybrid style of filmmaking can be as effective as straight unpolluted documentary techniques. What is real? What does it matter?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan reflects on whether the film is for real and whether it matters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":559,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions\/559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}