Joaquin Phoenix needs a hug. An intervention, a punch in the mouth, a wake-up call, something, but not a documentary following his descent from Academy Award nominated roles into mental illness and drug abuse. The new documentary, I'm Still Here, chronicles Phoenix's life after he decided to give up acting to pursue a hip-hop career in 2008. That's odd enough, but even odder is his behavior during the film. It's reported that Phoenix is filmed using drugs, drinking copious amount of beer and having numerous meltdowns as he tries his hand in music business.
The trailer shows a man in the midst of a psychotic break, tumbling through the rabbit hole for all to see. There's a scene with Sean "Diddy" Combs that finds him finally coming face-to-face with reality as Diddy pulls no punches in giving him the real. That's the question; is this real or is he pulling our legs for some sort of grand finale that brings him back to reality and the screen as the greatest actor of our time. I find it strange that his brother-in-law Casey Affleck was a part of this fiasco, instead of driving him straight to the Betty Ford Clinic without passing "Go"!
I suppose the ghosts of his brother River won out over the success and pressures caused by the acclaim of roles in Gladiator and Walk the Line, both of which he was nominated for Academy Awards. It's a damn shame, but I just want to let Joaquin know that this hip-hop thing is real, you have to live and breathe it.
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