Joaquin Phoenix

Joaquin Phoenix, Nobody could accuse Commodus of being the most likeable character in Gladiator. The petulant, power-hungry heir of Marcus Aurelius – who murdered his father, bumped off his enemies and was just a bit too attached to his sister – surely deserved the thumbs down from any discerning filmgoer. And yet whenever he struts onto the screen, eyes glittering, brimful of his sense of entitlement, this viewer, at least, sits up and pays a little more attention. Just as fascinating to watch when he’s struggling to cope with his insecurities as when he’s confronting Maximus (Russell Crowe), this gift of a part garnered Phoenix his first Oscar nomination, for best actor in a supporting role.
If you’re filming a Johnny Cash biopic, you need a star with a magnetic, brooding presence – and who better than Joaquin Phoenix? He nailed the single-mindedness inherent in Cash’s rise to fame and subsequent spiral into addiction, brought vulnerability to his relationship with his terrifying father (Robert Patrick) and introduced a touching sense of desperation to his slow-burn romance with June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). Singing lessons to train his voice to reach Cash’s trademark bass notes paid off and the film brought Phoenix his second Oscar nomination, this time for best performance by an actor in a leading role.

As gentle Coulmier, the idealistic priest in charge of the Charenton insane asylum, Phoenix was caught between a rock (the cruel Dr Royer-Collard, played by Michael Caine) and a hard case (Geoffrey Rush’s contrary patient, the Marquis de Sade). Royer-Collard was set on forcing the notorious writer to bend to his will and give up his quill; de Sade was equally determined not to break. Compounding the abbé’s problems were his decidedly non-platonic feelings for laundress Madeleine (Kate Winslet). The struggle to keep his emotions as buttoned-up as his costume is writ large on Phoenix’s face throughout and in the end it’s a battle he’s fated to lose, as vengeance leads him on his own descent towards madness.
M Night Shyamalan’s thriller revolves around a closed, Amish-like community who shun the colour red and live in fear of “Those we don’t speak of” crossing their borders. Shy, halting Lucius Hunt (Phoenix), cursed with curiosity and an enquiring mind, senses secrets in the village and wants to leave for the town. But it’s his fiancée, blind tomboy Ivy (Bryce Dallas Howard), who strikes out alone in search of medicines after Lucius is stabbed and left for dead. Some called the ending a cop-out, but for me it was the most horrific thing about the entire film. Lucius’s loved ones make a pact to continue to keep the truth of their circumstances from him – denying him knowledge and the right to determine his own future. Chilling.
In Thomas Vinterberg’s sci-fi romance, it’s 2021 and John (Phoenix) is travelling to New York to meet his wife, famous ice skater Elena (Claire Danes), to ask her to sign their divorce papers. When he arrives, things seem slightly “off” with her entourage and jittery brother Michael (Primeval’s Douglas Henshall). But then, weird things are happening everywhere – it’s snowing in New York in summer, gravity has gone haywire in Uganda and around the world people are, quite literally, dropping dead from loneliness. It’s an unsettling film – some might say downright weird – toying with themes of love and betrayal, and contains a shocking skating sequence that might make you rethink that visit to the local ice rink

Joaquin Phoenix Letterman

Joaquin Phoenix Letterman, What we all suspected about Joaquin Phoenix in the last couple of years has proven to be true: he was never really a career in hip-hop, or bad on drugs, or suddenly unable to form a coherent sentence, or completely lose his mind. His behavior since late 2008 has been an act.

Casey Affleck – Phoenix’s brother in law and the director of “I’m Still Here”, the documentary about the supposed new direction in life Phoenix – confirmed in an interview with The New York Times that nothing in the film or Phoenix off-camera antics, including a famous interview with David Letterman, was real.

“It’s a fabulous show, is the performance of his career,” Affleck says reporter Michael Cieply, later adding, “We wanted to create a space … you believe what is happening is real.” The question is: how Phoenix fans and viewers feel about it?

Whatever you may think about the merits of the effort is hard to argue with the assertion that Phoenix Affleck delivered a good performance. While it is fair to assume its rarity rotten, with a beard was an act that so fully committed to it being so easy to think that he had actually fallen off the rails.

I also believe that there is something, for lack of a better word, brave in what Phoenix did. At a time when other celebrities are perhaps more aware than ever about how to cultivate an image – not only by the firm to appropriate projects, but to accept some pictures from magazines just airbrushed or often maintain an active updated Twitter aggressive funny – like Phoenix shredded his reputation. And not just for a month or two, but for two whole years, without any guarantee that would be able to recover.

Now, one could easily argue that, given the (so far) mediocre box office impact of “I’m Still Here”, all that the performance was in vain. I’m sure Affleck and Phoenix – which is set to make his triumphant return next week with the “Late Show With David Letterman” – is leaving everyone in the joke now in the hope that perhaps people will more likely to see and understand what they were trying to do in the film.

But if the film is successful, Phoenix and Affleck clearly shows that as a society, we are willing to believe that anyone – even a respected Oscar-nominated – all can lose almost all night. His project also shows that, for better or for worse, it is perfectly possible to transform the image if a person is hard enough.

Of course, now Phoenix must make the effort to change that image again. As the New York Times and both the note of the LA Times, has begun considering movie roles again. Honestly, I seriously doubt it’s awfully difficult to Phoenix to recover for people. In Hollywood, probably tipping his hat to his inspired madness and use it to argue that he is the undisputed best actor of his generation.

But how do you feel about what Phoenix and Affleck did? Vote in our poll and weigh a comment.