Day 64 I’m Still Here [2010]
Screenplay Joaquin Phoenix & Casey Affleck
Director Casey
Affleck
Cinematography Casey
Affleck & Magdalena Gorka
Music Marty
Fogg
Leads Joaquin Phoenix,
Casey Affleck, Sean Combs, Antony Langdon, Ben Stiller
Production They Are Going to Kill Us
Productions, Flemmy Productions
IMDb 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes 53%
Well, well, well. I wonder what I would have
thought of this movie if I’d seen it straight away. I remember all the
publicity around Joaquin when this was filmed, but I didn’t really know what
was going on as I try not to follow celebrity news. I liked this a lot though.
Watching it knowing that rather than being real Phoenix is actually just method
acting. And boy did he fool the media. You know you’ve got them when they start
asking ‘does anyone even care whether it’s a hoax or not?’, as that really
means that they have no idea what’s going on, the media just don’t like being
wrong. So instead they’ll say they didn’t care. It’s sad how much they care
about being wrong when they get so much wrong already. Amazing how many ten-year-olds
manage to get jobs in journalism. If any of you were sleeping on this whole
thing, it’s a mockumentary-style movie about Joaquin Phoenix retiring from
acting to pursue a hip-hop career for REAL. (Can we quickly just appreciate how
funny it is they chose rapping as his alternate career, when Phoenix is famous
for mumbling). This movie nearly made him go broke and could have ended his career.
It is meant as a comment on celebrity culture and I think they nail it. It’s a
shame people can’t appreciate how daring of Phoenix it was to do this – instead they
lambast him and say the movie is shit, mostly because they felt hard done by,
or believed him. In hindsight, I think it’s genius and anyone who thinks
otherwise can fuck off, that’s what JP would say anyway. There are
some toe-curling moments I have to admit. The scene where he plays his music to
P Diddy especially. Diddy does well to take the high ground and be polite to
Phoenix, despite his music being shit. There are also some scenes which people must
have realised were staged – probably the main thing that lets the film down.
However, a lot of those in the public spotlight go through a dumbed down
version of Phoenix in this film. I’m Still Here is an exaggeration of that
feeling that actors get. They are a character for six months, then themselves,
then another character for a year, then themselves. And if their characters are
popular, then they can’t be themselves as everyone wants them to be that
character, or at least wants them to talk about that character. It leaves little
time to talk about themselves, hence why they find themselves lost. Then you have those who thrive when the spotlight is
one then but go crazy when the light is moved. In an increasingly
media-saturated world, it is important to learn that you’ve got to take
everything with a pinch of salt, sit back and appreciate the world around you.
The final scene is testament to this.
Acting 4
/ 4
Writing 3
/ 4
Cinematography 2
/ 4
HMD
rating 3.5 / 4