I really regret not seeing this film before it was revealed as a hoax. I was one who believed in the meltdown. I was 90% sure that Joaquin Phoenix was gone for good — forever lost to a bizarre schizophrenic episode. Is it really that hard to believe that a Hollywood star could go through something like that? I would have enjoyed seeing the film under that illusion. Perhaps the effect would have been different.
Anyway — we all know the truth now. That truth shifts “I’m Still Here” from documentary to a standard fiction film. It shifts my focus from the real-life subject of the lens (Phoenix) to the skill of the storytelling and the performances. It must be judged in a very different way.
I have to say that I think the film suffers from the truth. The emotional impact is infinitely lessened by it. There is no actor to care about. There is no lost soul. No lost career. No true loss of any kind. It is all farce. All that leaves the film slightly hollow… merely an experiment in long term fraud.
That being said… I find it amazing how Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck pull this year-long stunt off. It is, not only, an exercise in filmmaking but in media manipulation. The performance is extraordinary — solidifying Phoenix as one of the premium talents in the industry. The film is not particularly skillful in any way. Affleck’s involvement is more impressive organizationally and ideologically than in his directorial capacity.
I have to say that I think the film would be far more impressive had it been truthful. The subject matter would have carried the weight of the project. As it stands, that emotional weight is absent and the skill of the film is not sufficient enough to matter that much. “I’m Still Here” is only a curiosity and a mildly interesting exercise in mass deception.
