I'm still here

If nothing else, the mockumentary I'm Still Here proves that you cannot always fool a lot of people for a long time unless you're a very talented con man. The English artist Banksy is, and his Exit Through the Gift Shop has reaped awards and financial reward and will surely be nominated for the 2010 Best Documentary Oscar. I'm Still Here probably won't get any nominations anywhere, not even for Razzies.

Its misguided creators were Casey Affleck (co-writer and -producer, supporting actor, main cinematographer and lead editor) and his brother-in-law Joaquin Phoenix (co-writer and -producer and lead role), who spent almost two years of Phoenix's life pretending that he'd retired from film acting and was going to be a hip-hop artist. A handful of pals joined their charade, some acknowledging their participation (Sean 'P.Diddy' Combs, as his new career's manager and glam-rocker Englishman Antony Langdon from the Superhog band as his resident assistant), some not confirming they were fully in on the act (David Letterman).

One of the movie's ironies is the fact that Phoenix had really (reportedly) sung, more than adequately, during his Golden Globe-winning role as Johnny Cash in Walk The Line (which earned him a 2006 Best Actor Oscar nomination to display alongside his Best Supporting Actor nomination in 2001 for Gladiator). In his mockumentary role, he's hopeless as a rapper or stage presence, and he must have known it during the many months of getting fat and hirsute and turning out for fake performances, interviews and public appearances.

All concerned defended themselves by claiming that they'd set out to illustrate how easy it is to get public recognition in an era of instant celebrity, scripted "reality" TV shows and hyped talent competitions. That makes up a big target, one deserving a piercing documentary or a satirical send-up a la This Is Spinal Tap. The target is woefully missed because Phoenix seems to have genuinely over-estimated his popularity, sex appeal and musical abilities.

Affleck and he also misjudged public tolerance for full frontal male nudity and excretory jokes that were presumably designed to add levels of entertainment usually welcomed by Jackass audiences. They filmed their rehearsed version of crude reality, creating really crude cinema.

The final irony may be Phoenix's success in ending his movie career. The maudlin mess of Two Lovers has proved to be, as he'd announced in 2008, his "last" film. He's not lined up for any future movie role, and it's unlikely he'd be welcomed back in Hollywood. Not so much because of what he said and did, but because his supposed self-examination bombed at the box office, grossing only half a million dollars in the USA.