Venice Film Festival: Joaquin Phoenix takes the rap in I'm Still Here

Bearded and befuddled: Joaquin Phoenix in the film of his drug-fuelled year trying to become a rapper
10 April 2012

Anyone who wants to know why Joaquin Phoenix, one of the finest screen actors of his generation, gave up a successful career to plunge dismally into the music business, won’t find many answers in brother-in-law Casey Affleck’s film.

It purports to trace the drug-fuelled year after Phoenix announced his retirement, but nobody knows how much is fly-on-the-wall documentary and how much is fictionalised. Affleck, whose first film this is, isn’t telling. There are times when you feel that a bearded, dishevelled and often paranoid Phoenix is near to being exploited, though presumably he gave permission for the film to be made.

There’s one clue and that is that it was shot some 18 months ago and here in Venice, Phoenix has been spotted slimmed down, beardless and respectably dressed. Not for interviews, however.
His progress during his attempt to prove himself as a rapper reaches its climax in the film when P Diddy kindly but firmly tells him he is not ready to record and when David Letterman in a TV interview says to Phoenix "sorry you couldn’t be here tonight" as the audience roars with laughter. "People have laughed at me before," Phoenix says later. "You should see some of my films."

In the end, the film suggests that Phoenix finds himself again within the bosom of his family. We hope so because, though the film shows him capable of being a befuddled clown, it also suggests a proper human being trying to make sense of a life in the public eye he never really wanted.

I'm Still Here

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