Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, the documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie will stream on Apple TV+.
The 2023 edition of the has just begun Sundance Film Festival which until January 29 will gather in Salt Lake City, Utah, filmmakers and enthusiasts in a context far from glamor and aimed at celebrating the original voices of independent cinema. One of the films that was baptized with spectators on the second day of the festival was the documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie. Premiered here as a world premiere, before heading to the streaming service Apple TV+the documentary film is directed Davis Guggenheimmovie director Oscar Prize per An inconvenient truth. In addition to the authors, Salt Lake City has also arrived Michael J. Fox together with his wife Tracy Pollan and their four children.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie alternates archive clips and fictitious reconstructions, with the flow of the protagonist’s words retracing his life, from a Canadian boy with many dreams of glory to world-famous celebrity in the 80s, up to the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease when he was only 29 years old and all the mistakes, choices and struggles of the following years that led him to be an incurable optimist. In spite of everything.
Filled with nostalgic thrills and eye-opening moments, the documentary is described as intimate, honest, and filled with personal and Fox family contributions. Director Guggenheimthe husband of Elizabeth Shuethe Jennifer of Back to the future part II e part IIIgot to spend a lot of time with the actor and activist.
Still: To Michael J. Fox Movie, the first reviews of the documentary
At the Sundance Film Festival screening the audience stood up to applaud Michael J. Fox. The American journalists who were present agreed in defining the documentary “fun and moving”. Below are excerpts from the first reviews:
The Hollywood Reporter
“Admirable and satisfying portrait of a legend” – “The documentary is characterized by having an almost experimental style” – “Guggenheim conducts long interview sessions with Fox, conversations in which the actor recounts his life which in part knows whoever has read But it should be noted that Still’s best material comes from what would otherwise be classified as “behind the scenes”, such as when Fox has to stop the interview to take his medication or when Guggenheim asks him about new bruises from interview to interview, which represent the daily life of Fox, and are much more revealing and illuminating than the narrow biographical narrative”Variety
“The documentary is more entertaining and entertaining than you imagine” – “Fox is a charismatic fellow and even though his personal history has been overshadowed by Parkinson’s disease, Guggenheim’s upbeat and refined documentary as it was (and continues to be ) lively and close to us his personality” – “Guggenheim does an amazing job of finding archival footage from Fox’s career that fits the tone of the story, especially related to the emotional moment he was filming Back to the Future and The Keaton House at the same time”Indiewire
“At first it’s scary to see Fox with the full effects of Parkinson’s disease. It’s no doubt shocking to understand the pain of his body or to watch the make-up artist cover a place on his face where a bone was cracked from a fall As distressing as all of this sounds, Fox continues to be a likable figure and together with Guggenheim make an enjoyable film about suffering and resilience, without becoming a martyr.There are predictable moments as in all celebrity documentaries, but this rejects sentimentalities when he could easily make them his own”Deadline
“To chronicle Fox’s entire life, Guggenheim originally planned to use clips from the actor’s films and series in a traditional way, when his editor Michael Harte came up with an idea by incorporating those clips to depict moments from his life For example, when Fox talks about how he landed the role of Back to the Future, we see a scene from another of his films, The Thousand Lights of New York, recontextualized. A date between Fox and wife Tracy Pollan is told using a clip of a scene in which the two were acting together. This technique works so well that there could be prizes for editing in Harte’s future. It’s brilliant.”
(embed)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJhYf3vorhM(/embed)
