The famous actor Michael J. Fox decided to talk about his life and his illness in a documentary by Oscar winner Davis Guggenheim. In addition to the most important film award for the documentary “Inconvenient Truth”, Guggenheim has shot a whole series of impressive films, and numerous biographical documentaries stand out among them. However, “Still” is not a classic biographical documentary because in addition to the fact that Michael J. Fox himself is the narrator and we follow the story of his life from the beginning, we also follow what his life looks like today.
And it’s a sad fate indeed, because at the height of his fame, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Fox was diagnosed with the disease, which usually affects older people, in his late twenties, and at first he acted like it wasn’t going to stop him. He continued to record at a crazy pace, he didn’t tell anyone except the closest family members about his illness, and when he publicly revealed what he was suffering from at the end of the nineties, everyone was shocked. Fox still looks shocking. Although he is already in his sixties, he still looks incredibly youthful, almost boyish. However, even though this wicked disease has significantly determined his life and we see what problems he faces and how difficult his movement is, we see that Fox does not want to give up.
He still has some boyish charm, a twinkle in his eyes, a sense of humor and makes fun of himself (we could see this in one of the craziest episodes of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” by Larry David). His life story is also extremely interesting and we learn that he was always small, petite and that he looked much younger than he really is. Due to such a physical constitution, as a boy he was often the target of bullies, and as a teenager he decided to try acting, moved to Hollywood and after several hungry years, he finally got his chance. First in the comedy series “Family Ties”, and then luck smiled on him when Robert Zemeckis called him at the last minute to replace Eric Stoltz for the role of a teenager in some teenage movie about time travel.
“Back to the Future” and its sequels marked Fox’s career and life, and “Still” is a film that skilfully avoids all the formulas of a biographical documentary. While Fox narrates his life, and in parallel we occasionally follow his daily life, all of this is mostly illustrated with scenes from his films and series. He managed to make the Guggenheim both intimate and at the same time exciting, interesting, and entertaining, even though his story is very sad. However, while this terrible disease has completely impaired his motor skills and he cannot control these constant tremors and be calm physically, he seems so calm in his head, reconciled with himself, clear and realistic while revealing his life story.