As I imagine the filmmakers banging out ideas on how to make this movie about the film industry (something I'm sure they thought would be awe-inspiring), I am reminded of Pauline Kael's statement "Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash we have very little reason to be interested in them." I hold to my firm belief that films about the people actually making the film are both maddening (like performing brain surgery on one's self) and utterly, and completely uninspiring, unless (and this is a big unless) the subject is so captivating by some great deed (like curing cancer, or discovering a solution to world hunger), that you are compelled to follow them.Joaquin Phoenix, born Rafael Bottom, an American actor has little of the charisma that would engender mass attention as someone who could not pose behind scripted text. As evidenced in I'm Still Here, the actor has moments contemplating vapid life questions such as fly's batting of their wings to communicate (this is during supposed long periods of drug use), and the banality of movie-making.I'm Still Here is said to be a documentary-style film of a character Joaquin Phoenix experiencing a nervous breakdown upon deciding to retire from acting to move into music as a Hip Hop singer songwriter, and documented by actor and brother-in-law Casey Affleck. The film juggles many ideas about art and the responsibility of celebrity and how these coalesce to motivate individual personality. Why the filmmakers chose to include Hip Hop says a lot about the biased attitude of the white ruling class that governs the film industry in Hollywood.The success of I'm Still Here, and other films like it, proves that the viewing public loves controversial subjects, especially when it involves the reputations of celebrities. Americans have a deep-seated reverence of movie stars, sports stars, and others in the lime light and when they can be seen doing crazy things, it's good for TV and News ratings. I'm Still Here at some levels addresses this theme, but does so in such an oblique way, the whole point may be lost on the average viewer.The ultimate question is why the filmmakers Joaquin Phoenix, and Casey Affleck made this thing in the first place. As much of the footage shows, live performances with Phoenix singing, and appearing on talk shows have him immersed in a mood so deeply that he appears completely believable, so much so that in many cases he later made apologies for carrying the role so far. As for Affleck, if this is an example of what his filmmaking career is to give us, it's just more evidence that reaffirms the mythos of Hollywood as a place to look beneath the fake tinsel to find the real tinsel.It's too long for a movie of its type. Ostensibly a documentary, it goes on for 106 minutes, and never establishes clearly what it is a movie about, other than an opportunity for its central character to rant, and do shocking things on screen. It feels like a waste of time to me.

The fact that this is a fake documentary makes it even worse.Why do we need this waste of celluloid to prove that actors (and other celebs for that matter) can be whining, self-absorbed diva's without any grasp on reality? We already knew that, didn't we? So there you have it; Joaquin crying about fame. Joaquin crying about being misunderstood. Joacquin crying about not being taken seriously. Joacquin crying about people not appreciating his musical talent. Joacquin crying about talk show hosts making fun of his scruffy appearance. And this goes on and on and on.I could be missing the point (or the punchline?). It could be satire and Joaquin is trying to tell us that celebrities should NOT act this way. But then again, he could have just said so and point out any episode of "Keeping up with the Kardasians". So whether Joaquin is playing himself or some made up character, this flick is a tedious bit of rubbish....

Had this been produced before the time of the Internet and Youtube, it would have been beyond pointless. After all, who would we have needed Phoenix playing a mumbling, unpleasant and utterly untalented and unlikeable wanna-be rapper? Nobody, since people like Sascha Baron Cohen and the "Spinal Tap"-crew had done it already a long time ago. Or Eninem and Vanilla Ice.If you're into make-believe-comedy, you might ask yourself: "Hasn't Andy Kauffman done this 30+ years ago?" Yes he did; very successful and very funny. In comparison, "I'm Still Here" is neither funny nor successful. It's tedious and rather pathetic to watch. What was the point of making Phoenix look like a vagrant Jim Morrison and, in the post-MTV age, turn him into a Hip Hop artist? Casey Affleck may have watched "Being John Malkovich", but whether he learned something from this film is questionable. Taking the title from another surreal biopic, namely "I'm Not There" (about the life and times of Bob Dylan), is a dead giveaway concerning the 'wit' that has gone into this project.Who else has pulled off a similar stunt in recent years? To mind comes Sascha Baron Cohen and his Bruno/Borat personas. Again, the fundamental difference being that Cohen intends to entertain and does so successfully. "I'm Still Here" doesn't entertain - it depresses because you know it's so obviously fake and that there will be no laughs had. If Cohen tries to tickle laughter out of his audience then Phoenix is content to do exactly the opposite.But in the context of the Youtube-phenomenon, where Andy Warhol's prediction has perversely come true and everybody – bloggers, vloggers, trolls and the boy/girl who screamed "Leave Britney alone!" – are all celebrities in their own rights, the film may raise one or the other interesting question.Like this film, the internet is filled with what internet-terminology is called "fail". "Fail" implying that the joke is always on you and only a lot of self-deceit will prevent you to realize that people are not laughing with you but about you. In this dimension, celebrity isn't measured in terms of money but by the number of clicks views – and whether you're filming yourself pushing pins into your forehead or presenting the world's most awful rap-performance, in this global "Truman Show" a "fail"-video will invariably get the most views. A global "Truman Show".Take those pathetic, pointless and humiliating videos and put them together into an hour and a half long film, what you get is "I'm Still Here" – but with more celebrity gawking.If you wanted to document a broken, freakish celebrity in the public limelight, why don't you just make a movie about Michael Jackson or Punk Rocker GG Allin? It might have saved two years of Phoenixes life (not to mention his credibility, both as actor and person).Am I being too generous to give the film 2 points from 10?

This is probably the only movie I recommend going in reading the spoiler alert...I hadn't and I admit remembering the original Letterman piece and mentioning some concern about Joaquin Phoenix to my savvy 20 y.o., who laughed as if he were "in on it". I did see the brief media flurry and forgot all about it, that is until I came across it on Netflix and was intrigued enough to watch it a few hours ago. Going in clueless and not as savvy as my son, it took a while for me to catch on, I admit, until I "got it" it was difficult for me, as it would have to be for any naive viewer. Then it clicked. This film is part of a larger work of satirical performance art involving and targeting, on a smaller scale the dehumanizing relationship between film as art and banal pop culture. On a larger scale ISH sends up those who fall into believing in, or helping to create the artificial world projected onto, and opiating the masses. For me the scene with the Diddy(obviously in on it, acting) offering insincere platitudes as he tries to let "JP" down easy, gets to one of the works deeper messages - a refutation of the erroneous modern notion that "the skies the limit" for those with a dream and enough heart. If you try taking this in as an attempt at mockumentary you wonder why the artists put in the disgusting excretory parts. As in any piece of satire there is an intended audience and an intended target. Those who don't get it wouldn't do so even with JP himself "busting their teeth in and s**ting in their faces." Kudos to Affleck, Phoenix and all those who were in on this masterful piece(Diddy, "EJO", Stiller, etc.) This is only a hoax to those who were once(Letterman) or are still hopelessly out of the loop - los sientos muchos.