I'm Still Here (2010)

Warning – this review contains major spoilers – please do not read on if you do not wish to made aware of a key aspect of the film.I find it hard to believe that this movie has not been rated more highly by both IMDb users and the critics of the time.I deliberately entitled this review The JP Method - it is one of the most well produced examples of method acting ever captured.Joaquin Phoenix inhabited an obnoxious caricature of himself for two years whilst making this movie both in public and in private. His performance was so good that he managed to fool many people into thinking that he was having a very public meltdown.Yes there were a few cast members that were made aware of the movie's intentions, but it would not have succeeded without these people.My rating is based more on this impressive, sustained piece of method acting than on the movie itself, as I believe it's a fairly unique achievement.The proof of success is that the only award the film received was a "Documentary" award from the Venice Film Festival. Surely that is the greatest recognition of this method acting that it fooled people who make a living within the movie industry.Even if you ignored my early warning and have not yet seen the movie, if you are interested in acting and cinema, I would still recommend that you watch. I myself was already aware of the facts behind the movie before I sat down for a viewing and possibly found it all the more fascinating as a result.I find it astonishing that a recognised actor would risk playing a part like this which required such real life public humiliation.

Joaquin Phoenix was raised in a non-traditional performing family. Beginning in 2009, he is a big star but he's tired of the work. He decides to quit acting. He wants to rap and become a hip hop star.This is a mockumentary. The problem is that Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix had an idea while smoking something, and they actually went through with it. They want to make a shocking reality show and ends up making a pretty boring movie. The shock is for nothing more than for shock's sake. I don't care about this version of Joaquin. I don't laugh with him or at him. I laughed at the David Letterman interview but that's because of Letterman. This movie has little entertainment value. It is of some artistic value for how long he kept up the act.

I went into this movie thinking it would be pretty funny since it was a mockumentary of sorts. Parts of the movie, especially scenes with Antony or the bits where you actually get to hear Joaquin's music, were hilarious. Especially the music--I had to re-watch one of his songs a few times, it was just such a great scene.But, the thing is, a lot of it is the type of humor you'd expect from a Jackass movie or something similar--very teenage-boy kind of humor, if you know what I mean. I think if you are in any way prudish, or easily disturbed, this film is definitely not for you.Overall, it was a pretty good movie and I'm glad I saw it. Some of the acting was a bit overdone in my opinion, and at some points, it was easy to see that the film was scripted, but it's a pretty funny movie that reveals a lot of (sometimes shocking) truths about being a celebrity, and it makes it more clear as to why celebrities do some of the crazy things that they sometimes do.

Did you count how many F... Mr. I'm Still Here tells on the movie? It was hard to see it, because of the emptiness of the subject. I did not know him and from now on I will prefer to get away from such lack of culture. This is a movie for a certain kind of adolescents. Actually, this cannot be called a "movie".They ask me to write 10 lines of a review, but I cannot since I have nothing more to tell about what I saw. Better than to cote a song from Madonna: Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me I think they're okay If they don't give me proper credit I just walk away They can beg and they can plead But they can't see the light, that's right, that's right 'Cause the boy with the cold hard cash Is always Mister Right 'Cause we are living in a material world And I am a material girl You know that we are living in a material world And I am a material girl