Still - Movie Review

Critics Score - 7 of 10

General Audience Score - 6 of 10

As much as I have a tremendous love for movies, especially for many of the films I grew up with in the 1980’s and 1990’s, I’m rarely driven to research a movie to find out the stories behind how the movie was made, what the filming was like, problems they encountered, etc., like I would, say, for a popular song. Easily one of my favorite films from the 1980’s would be the original Back To The Future, the Robert Zemeckis directed and Steven Spielberg produced movie starring Michael J. Fox. But little did I know that BTTF had already been shooting when Zemeckis decided that Eric Stoltz wasn’t right for the part of Marty and recast Michael J. Fox for the role and had to reshoot all the scenes they’re already done with Stoltz. This was just one of the fantastic revelations brought to light in the new documentary Still, available to stream on Apple+ next Friday, May 12th. While the film centers around Fox, his discovery of and battle with Parkinson’s Disease, there are plenty of behind the scenes moments from BTTF, Spin City and Family Ties to fascinate viewers. Today’s younger generation and some general audiences might not be as over the moon for this film as critics and audiences that experienced the 80’s will be, but Michael J. Fox as an individual is Still as interesting and entertaining as he was when he first stepped into the DeLorean.

SYNOPSIS - This journey into a man’s diagnosis of the incurable and degenerative condition of Parkinson’s starts off in a hotel room. We see front of a large pink hotel with a row of palm trees running up each side of the entrance, like a shot from a Wes Anderson movie, we hear the voiceover of Michael J. Fox telling us that this is Florida, the year is 1990. As he wakes up in bed, the morning light filtering in through the window, we hear a high pitched screeching, like metal scraping combined with wings flapping rapidly, like up close audio of a hummingbird. “I woke up with a ferocious hangover”, Fox begins, before relating how his left hand’s pinky finger began to twitch back and forth uncontrollably. As he struggles to wake up, he thinks of the night before, he recalls drinking at the bar with Woody Harrelson, but he doesn’t remember getting into a brawl, at least not anything that would’ve damaged him like that. We see his left hand outstretched with his pinky twitching back and forth, without any ability of his own to control it. “The trembling”, he says, “was a message . . . from the future”. We flash forward to the present day where Fox sits at home, getting his hair fixed, preparing to interview for the documentary. We watch footage as he meets a physical therapist that’s some kind of trainer who works with and assists Fox, teaching him walking techniques. His walk is more of a sideways staggered limp, but without using a cane, Fox seems to lean forward while walking, his arms swinging side to side and he seems about ready to fall forward at any point if his feet don’t manage to get under him quick enough. Shortly after he emerges from the building with his assistant, he turns back to say hello to someone and subsequently tumbles down onto the sidewalk, a sobering demonstration of the difficulties he’s facing on a day to day basis. 

Fox begins to recount his journey, how he was discovered by a talent agent at a young age and with support from his father, this Canadian actor moved to Hollywood. As a teenager he got his start in show business rather slowly, living in a studio apartment, eating mostly McDonalds and getting just enough acting gigs to survive. But as he tells of a time when he was flat broke, using change to pay for things and picking up nails on a construction site to earn extra money, he’s on the verge of packing it in. But as Fox says, “I still had a chip and a chair.” In poker, as long as you have a chip left and a chair at the table, you’re still in the game. We see as Fox gets called in for an interview for Family Ties and despite the fact that some don’t think he’s right for the role, she absolutely kills it, There’s some effective editing present in the film, woven into Fox’s story are clips of his performances in film and TV, depicting some of the things he was experiencing in real life, some of it is footage they found from god knows where. Eventually, after telling of his work on TV and shooting Back To The Future, the film catches up to the introductory scene and at 29 years old, he’s diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Still gets into what having Parkinson’s entails and what this degenerative condition will do to Michael down the road. It touches on his advocacy for the disease, fighting for ongoing research and grant funding for better therapies and more effective treatments. We also get to see Fox as a family man, spending time with his wife and children, and we see how they’re coping with the effects of his illness now that he’s into his sixties.

Still was directed by Davis Guggenheim, the Oscar winning man behind Waiting For Superman, An Inconvenient Truth and producer on numerous other documentary projects. Although this story isn’t some kind of revelation, we’ve seen the little guy rise up against adversity story before, and cinematically this isn’t any majestic achievement in filmmaking, but the direction and story progression are well constructed. Starting with the first symptoms and then going back and telling us Fox’s start in Hollywood through to today with amusing clips and archival footage sprinkled in along the way kept the pacing up high enough to sustain interest. At just over an hour and a half, the film isn’t overstuffed either, it isn’t a pity party as Fox mentions he doesn’t want or stay too focused on selling us on how great of a person Fox is. Still is simply a name and face we all know and a glimpse into his struggles along the way, even though he’s made the big time. The film also effectively utilizes some pretty nifty needle drops of classic 80’s songs in the retelling of Fox’s life that also helps give the documentary an upbeat tone. How in the world they didn’t incorporate some Huey Lewis & the News into it’s retro throwback songs is dumbfounding and a seriously missed opportunity. All in all, while many audiences just don’t get down for documentaries, if you lived in or loved the 80’s, there’s quite a bit for you here in this new movie with the lovable and endearing Michael J. Fox.

SUMMARY - A sneak peak into the world of a celebrity other than the drama infused lives of the Kardashians might not seem all that exciting, but the chronicles of an 80’s and 90’s movie star that went through and is enduring difficulties, I found quite touching. But the eternal optimism of Fox as he’s staring down his life’s misfortunes was about as inspiring and entertaining as anything I’ve seen so far this year. So get moving to sit for Still.