I'm Still Here (I) (2010)

Documenting Joaquin Phoenix's transition from the acting world to a career as an aspiring rapper.

Director:

Casey Affleck

Writers:

Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix

Stars:

Joaquin Phoenix, Antony Langdon, Carey Perloff

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Joaquin Phoenix	...	Himself
Antony Langdon	...	Anton
Carey Perloff	...	Play Director
Larry McHale	...	Himself
Casey Affleck	...	Himself
Jack Nicholson	...	Himself
Billy Crystal	...	Himself
Danny Glover	...	Himself
Bruce Willis	...	Himself
Robin Wright	...	Herself
Danny DeVito	...	Himself
Jerry Penacoli	...	Himself
Susan Patricola	...	Herself
Patrick Whitesell	...	Himself
Nicole Acacio	...	Herself

Storyline

In 2008 while rehearsing for a charity event, actor Joaquin Phoenix, with Casey Affleck's camera watching, tells people he's quitting to pursue a career in rap music. Over the next year, we watch the actor write, rehearse, and perform to an audience. He importunes Sean Combs in hopes he'll produce the record. We see the actor in his home: he parties, smokes, bawls out his two-man entourage, talks philosophy with Affleck, and comments on celebrity.

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Plot Keywords:

actor | rapper | mockumentary | hoax | gullible | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual material, graphic nudity, pervasive language, some drug use and crude content

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [jp]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 September 2010 (Australia)

Also Known As:

I'm Still Here: The Lost Years of Joaquin Phoenix

Filming Locations:

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$96,658 (USA) (10 September 2010)

Gross:

$408,719 (USA) (29 October 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

They Are Going to Kill Us Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the defecation scene, where Joaquin Phoenix gets pooped on in bed, the "feces" was actually a combination of humus and coffee grounds. The mixture was inserted into a tube that was taped onto Antony Langdon's (Anton) back that went down to his butt.

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Goofs

When Phoenix first meets Diddy in the hotel, he knocks on the door on the right side of the hall, then the camera switches and Diddy is opening the door on the left side of the hall. It can't just be a change in camera angle since the door is the last one on the hall.

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Quotes

Edward James Olmos: That's you, drops of water and you're on top of the mountain of success. But one day you start sliding down the mountain and you think wait a minute; I'm a mountain top water drop. I don't belong in this valley, this river, this low dark ocean with all these drops of water. Then one day it gets hot and you slowly evaporate into air, way up, higher than any mountain top, all the way to the heavens. Then you understand that it was at your lowest that you were closest to God. Life's a journey that...

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Connections

Referenced in Late Show with David Letterman: Episode #16.89 (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Night/Part One: Snow"
Written by George Winston
Performed by George Winston
Courtesy of Windham Hill Records/RCA Victor
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

A scathing and hilarious indictment of the category of celebrity

Under normal circumstances, I might have given this title a slightly lower rating, but the criminally low scores given by some reviewers demanded a strong counterpoint.

This was an immensely intelligent and relevant film to come out of Hollywood, made by actors, celebrities in their own right, who are clearly sickened by the solipsistic egoism of the entertainment industry and its undeserved position of prominence in American culture.

The grotesque character Phoenix and Affleck bring to the screen, perhaps crystallized best in an instance where the former physically attacks a heckler during a performance and subsequently voids his stomach after all the exertion, instantly - and irrevocably - shatters the glamorous veneer that surrounds the category of 'the celebrity'. This, I suspect and fear, may be one of the reasons why some of the reviewers in these pages had an aversion to the film.

As a Brit, I've been brought up on slightly surreal, and often fairly, dark humour - a la Chris Morris's 'Jam' and 'Brass Eye'. But this really pushed things further, and I felt myself challenged as a viewer, which is always a good thing in my book.

My advice would be to watch this film and make up your own mind. Perhaps the best way to recommend this feature is to mention the fact that, almost 12 hours after having seen it, I still feel a warm sense of edification, a feeling that is rarely induced by watching movies (I'm more of a reader).

A timely satire that bursts the celebrity bubble.