He's Still Here

He's still here and I do care.

Joaquin Phoenix isn't one of my favorite actors, and I don't think I like him as a person, either. But what he did with his latest movie is, in my opinion, truly brilliant. A practical joke goes terribly wrong when the media turns against Joaquin, after finding out that they're being mislead by him. JP does not give up, and throughout the whole film, you don't know what will happen next. Watching the movie, 2 hours passed by like 10 minutes.



I'm Still Here perfectly portrays how damaging Hollywood can be to an actor's personal life. Once you're in, and once you're famous, people won't let you pull out. If you want to do something else with your life, they won't even give you a chance. The ghost of your famous self will always be there, haunting you, and making you feel paralyzed and helpless. No one will ever take you seriously as anything else, but an actor.

Joaquin Phoenix, willingly or unwillingly, brings light to this issue in his documentary. He exposes the dark side of La La Land. He lives through the horrors that Tom Green once went through, causing his career to go down the toilet. You can read more about that in Tom Green's book "Hollywood Causes Cancer", which by the way, is a great read. Anyway, I can't help but spot a lot of similarities between the two actors: both fucked with the media and got their acting careers destroyed, both grew beards, and both became rappers.

And of course, people can't help but compare Joaquin to the notorious Andy Kaufman. But I don't think the latter would have ever dared to do what Joaquin did with I'm Still Here. JP went really far, and did not quit, even when his hoax was exposed and the media declared that "nobody cared". Was that his only choice? I think he could have gone out publicly and apologized. The damage to his career wouldn't have been that severe then. But executing an idea can be a slippery slope, especially when you've invested so much in it already, and Joaquin probably got too carried away with his act to ever consider quitting.

Even if you're at the top of your game, the media can chew you up in a few seconds and spit you out as a nobody. I'm Still Here is like a psychological snuff film that exposes this reality. Great documentary, that I recommend that you see at least once, if you want to support independent cinema and original ideas.

The Room - Lisa's Profile

The other night I had the urge to watch Tommy Wiseau's The Room again. It's a great movie and I strongly recommend it. This post is for people who have already seen the film. It's my analysis of Lisa's relationship with Johnny. The Room almost depicts Lisa as this evil selfish manipulative bitch, but are we to judge her this way? Is Johnny really this angel that the film so badly makes him out to be?

It seems that Johnny loves Lisa for no apparent reason presented in the film, other than her being beautiful. And she seems to have loved him just because she was supposed to - all her friends and relatives constantly assure her how nice Johnny is and how she should love him -- just because he's financially stable, charitable, and he gives her presents all the time. We see that Lisa did not love Johnny for his charms, and it was neither for his looks; she loved him because she felt she owed him that, in return for his unconditional love and endless gifts. She would have felt guilty if she didn't.

Lisa's love was fake, and she finds that out right before it's too late. But what does she do about it? Instead of ending her relationship with Johnny, she finds an outlet, where she can get rid of her guilt; the guilt of not being able to give back what she's given. The outlet that she finds is Mark. To get rid of the guilt, she passes it on to him, by loving him unconditionally, and forcing favors on him, mostly in the form of sex.

Are we to blame Lisa for not being honest with Johnny? I don't think so. In the scene where he confronts her for being deceiving, we see that he is actually capable of hitting her. He pushes her down at least twice. He looks scary. Is this really the way you encourage someone you love to be honest with you, by yelling at them and physically threatening them? This only shows that Johnny doesn't really care about Lisa's emotions. He shows no curiosity, so Lisa naturally doesn't feel like sharing her feelings with him. Yelling out "Why Lisa, why?" isn't really being curious, it's more like an agonizing self-pitying scream in the form of a rhetoric question.

Lisa is in a very "awkward situation" and it's completely understandable why she fears ending her relationship with Johnny. First of all, her friends and family will ostracize her. Secondly, Johnny might hurt her. And lastly, he might hurt himself. In the film, it becomes apparent that Johnny is psychologically dependent on Lisa. He needs someone who he can take care of, because otherwise he feels worthless. His happiness depends on babysitting Lisa. She is tired of being that baby, and she's tired of being responsible for his emotions. It's only natural that she resents him so much, and it's also natural that she becomes manipulative, because the honest way of dealing with the issue has been made a taboo for her.

Why is Mark Johnny's best friend? Because he is also susceptible to being a baby that needs taking care of, which becomes apparent when Lisa becomes her husband and Mark becomes her. Mark allows Lisa to force favors on him and become his caregiver. What about the situation with Denny? It's just another example of Johnny's narcissism - by helping Denny, Johnny feels good about himself.

In conclusion, Johnny was a bad narcissistic husband. Lisa was in a codependent relationship with him for a couple of years, but then she got smarter and wiser. Unfortunately, her friends and family weren't as smart, so she was forced to become the nasty manipulative "bitch" in order to get what she wants. In the end of the movie, it seems like everyone morally condemns her, and she "gets what she deserves". As if she has made a grave mistake not to obey her husband and relatives, and now she has to suffer for it. To me, she made a great choice, and I believe she is "in a better place" now, unlike dead Johnny, with real friends and a husband that she loves for what he is.

P.S. If you're a fan of The Room and you like adventure videogames, you are totally going to love this flash game dedicated to the movie: Click Here to Play. The game features beautiful 8bit graphics and chiptunes, cutscenes taken from the film, great sound effects, and what I enjoyed the most, secret places and alternative endings.