my brief thoughts on.... 'I'm Still Here'

i'm sure you remember you remember where you were when you heard that the Challenger blew up....? or where you were when you heard about 9/11....? or where you were when you heard that Joaquin Phoenix was going to quit acting and start a rap career....? okay, maybe you remember the first two.... but you don't remember the third....? wow.... i'm not surprised.... i don't remember either.

that doesn't matter.... what matters is the year that followed after his initial announcement.... and that's what this faux-documentary was all about.... as much as i hate to admit it, i found Joaquin Phoenix much more interesting during that year than any of his earlier career.... (yes, i'm not a big fan).... i was on to the whole ruse early on.... i even said so to my friends that i thought it was all staged and that if it was, it was brilliant.... look out Sascha Baron Cohen....! however, the end result was far less satisfactory than 'Bruno', 'Da Ali G Show', or 'Borat'.... regardless, i watched this documentary and i'll admit that i enjoyed it.... i'm still not sure which parts were real or staged.... (some are obvious).... but this showed Joaquin in some pretty unflattering light.... and i'm surprised he would take a chance of ruining his career to go that far for a 'joke'.... i guess that's what kind of makes this genius.... it's not high art, but it's damn entertaining.... Casey Affleck shows real promise as a filmaker and he's already proven himself as an actor.... i also felt like some of what Joaquin accomplised with his music and rapping wasn't that bad.... and the beard and glasses with the suit kind of sold the whole package.... i'm still really into the branding that was done to promote the documentary.... i would totally put a poster up of the image above....
now you're asking, "Should I bother watching this?".... i would tell you that it all depends on your thoughts on Joaquin or if you want to spend the hour and a half on a gag....? it's not a 4 star filmgoing experience, it's 3 at best.... but that doesn't make it any less fun to watch.... there's moments of brilliance and moments where i cringed.... there's also moments where i just didn't care what was going on.... i don't know what Casey and Joaquin set out to accomplish, but i hope they were successful.... i have no idea what's going on with Joaquin now.... i haven't heard of any upcoming projects or anything.... and i'm not sure if he's gone up and ruined his career.... either way, i'm glad i was able to go along for the ride.... i gave it 3 out of 5 stars.... i suggest you check out the trailer online and make the choice for yourself....

note to Joaquin: i'm not sure about the rest of your career, but i think you should bring back the beard, suit, and sunglasses and keep on with the rapping.... but maybe that's just me.

if you like this, watch: any of Christopher Guest's films
(did this review even make sense....?!?!)