Joaquin's Rapper's Delight?

Strolling into the Four Seasons Hotel smoking a cigarette and holding a bag of cough drops, Phoenix is getting pretty loose treatment for a guy who appears to have slept in his clothes for two days. But then he's Joaquin Phoenix, Oscar-nominated actor and dreamy movie star. And he's still a movie star, no matter what stunt he claims to not be pulling. No one rocks the Rick Rubin/Grizzly Adams/hipster's first year in college look with as much obvious gusto as Phoenix, who's enjoying his unkempt glamour a little too much. Crazy, people think.

But then, to me, he's not really acting that insane. There are guys on my street who look like that, guys who are actually unhinged or loaded on Mad Dog or are surprisingly nice to talk to, the types of fellas who, when lucid, will discuss contemporary politics with you over a discarded newspaper in the donut shop. Still, no way are they gonna smoke a ciggie in the Four Seasons, much less be allowed entry. I keep thinking about this while watching Phoenix, and it bothers me.

Oh yes, the reason I was looking at Phoenix in the first place? Sitting at a press table, he's supposed to be promoting his new movie Two Lovers, a sensitive portrait of wounded, doomed love, featuring a soulful performance by Phoenix and nice turns by Vinessa Shaw and Gwyneth Paltrow. It's the third movie he has made with James Gray, who also directed him in The Yards and We Own the Night, and, according to Phoenix, his last film -- ever. He has given up acting to focus on his music career, namely as a rapper. This rather weak transformation has been covered extensively by the press and now by his friend/brother-in-law Casey Affleck, who is also in the room filming Phoenix's shenanigans for some kind of documentary/project/musing on something. I have no idea what he's doing and, since I didn't know about Affleck's presence before the press invite, I refused to sign a release to be interviewed after the spectacle. I don't want to be edited into this second-rate Tony Clifton routine.

Now don't get me wrong. I've got no problem with what Phoenix and Affleck are attempting. I champion the upset of the status quo, as long as it's clever and interesting. And I think Phoenix is a major talent -- on par with Montgomery Clift when it comes to emotional honesty and intense poignancy. And the camera loves him, grabbing every hurt nuance the young man shows (think the scene in Walk the Line with his father -- so truly painful). He seems truly sensitive -- I get why the Night of the Locust -like industry could get to him. (Also, on a personal note he looks a lot like my brother, who I miss terribly). But, in terms of performance stunts, based on what I saw, I'm not so convinced. This isn't Andy Kaufman. This isn't Crispin Glover's fantastically freaky appearance on Letterman. The timing feels off, neither hilarious nor nutty enough, which I found funny considering my earlier, extensive interview with Gray.

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