Most won’t know what I’m Still Here is going in. Or going out, for that matter. Is it a mockumentry? Or a deep examination of a performer in a downward spiral? It’s difficult to label it as anything, exactly. I’m Still Here is almost impossible to read on a thematic level. Tonally and structurally, it’s messy. Throughout its entire running time you’re unsure of whether or not this is real or an incredible prank.
And yet, despite the seemingly odd confusion, it’s hard not to both admire and enjoy this docu-something-or-another. It’s a solid verite look at what Phoenix has been doing for the past year or so. While you sadly (and frustratingly) never get a genuine understanding of his motives, it does deliver on showing his persona/”persona.” The film doesn’t hold back, exposing warts and all. From snorting coke to picking up prostitutes, it’s all there.
Is any of this staged? Again, it’s hard to say. But when the end credits roll you see director Casey Affleck and Joaquin Pheonix credited as co-writers, as well as some people not playing themselves, which adds more than a bit of suspicion to it all. Affleck and Pheonix really have pulled off one of cinema’s greatest magic tricks if this is in fact a hoax, but keep in mind, it may actually not be.
Phoenix states something in the film that could represents one of the film’s biggest issues: that he “just wants to be understood.” Watching the film, it’s nearly impossible to his current state of mind and actions. Where did that once-oddly-charming performer go? Was that a part of the put-on he was referring to when he says he’s done playing Joaquin Phoenix? Does he care what people think about him? Affleck decides to merely brush over this, as he does for many possibly interesting questions, such as how his family life affected him?
The only theme that Affleck really seems to grasp with any full ambition is the idea of celebrity, fame and perception. Everything shown in the film contrasts everything we like to think of movie stars as i.e. glamorous lives of richness and happiness. Has it been done before? Of course, but that doesn’t mean Affleck doesn’t do it well and takes it to a new level unseen before.
Where he truly shines as director is in not straying away from the dark side of his subject. If this is to be taken as a real documentary, this isn’t a flattering or even sympathetic portrayal. At times, it feels like Affleck wants you to feel bad for Phoenix or the character he’s playing, but you can never fully sympathize due to Affleck’s oddly cold distance in regards to his subject’s internal struggles.
There’s not a whole lot of weight to the crude behavior he displays. Only towards the end do you feel slight, genuine sympathy for the actor, especially during a somewhat heartbreaking post-Letterman breakdown moment.
If I’m Still Here is to be taken seriously, it’s quite mind boggling how Affleck appears to want to sell it as tragedy while many scenes are obviously shot and edited for laughs. If all of this is serious, isn’t it a bit wrong on a moral level to showcase it all as a joke, especially when the overreaching theme is self-destruction? This just adds to the confusion as to whether or not this is reality or not.
And while Affleck’s directorial debut never reaches its fullest potential or strikes at anything overtly profound, it’s difficult to deny I’m Still Here as an interesting and peculiar viewing experience. You may not always know exactly what you’re watching, but the fact that you cant decipher what it’s all about only makes it more engaging.