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.
