'I'm Still Here': but do we care?

Andrew Robinson, Gleaner Writer

In 1982, Joaquin Phoenix made his acting debut in the TV show Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Nearly three decades later, the Golden Globe Award-winning actor has appeared in more than 35 films, including Walk The Line and Gladiator.

In late 2008, he announced that he was quitting acting to pursue a career in rap music, and that his brother-in-law, Casey Affleck (Gone Baby Gone), would be documenting this career move. This is the beginning of a long and arduous task of Phoenix attempting to deceive us as a viewer that this is reality.

Phoenix is an actor who enjoys a challenging role. He became fascinated with reality TV and the fact that the consumer actually believes that it's real. He, therefore, decided that his next role would be this whole new role as someone who no longer cares about acting or putting on a mask.

Now, however, he decides to make this point by putting on a mask for the whole world to see. He decides to follow the likes of Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat), who decides to take on the role of this character 24/7. So for a year Phoenix was always found with this surly disposition where he would always be overly sensitive about the entire promotion process of the movie industry while promoting his last filmed movie at that time, Two Lovers.

There was the famous interview - which is in the film - where Phoenix appeared on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' in February 2009, while in character, and proceeded to give the worst interview ever recorded on network television. He sat there unresponsive as Letterman mocked him and made a fool of him. It's come out recently that Letterman was in on the joke.

However, I guess the biggest question is what is the true outcome of this grand experiment? At this point, we've not only ended up with I'm Still Here, a self-obsessive film that doesn't ever seem to rise above the level of narcissism that you would find in a four-year-old child who's screaming, 'Look at me!'

But we also begin to question Phoenix's options of now being able to re-enter the business that he decided to spit on while doing this project. It's one thing to mock the industry, but it's another thing to intentionally refuse to follow through on the promotion of a film and quite possibly be a factor into why it didn't end up doing so well at the box office - earning only just over US$3 million in the American market.

So now, a year later, we have an unfocused film that won't be forgotten easily, not because it made a dent in anyone's pocketbook, but because it will probably end up putting a dent into the career of one of the most promising actors of my generation. The only question that I'm Still Here leaves its audience asking themselves is: will the industry ever end up forgiving Phoenix for this massive prank?

Five years ago he wowed us with his portrayal of country singing legend Johnny Cash, and now he's wowed us with his portrayal of a whiny child who needs nothing more than a reminder that he can't eat his cake and have it.

Email feedback to saturdaylife@gleanerjm.com. You can find more of Andrew's ramblings at www.gmanreviews.com and on Twitter @gmanreviews.