In 2008 while rehearsing for a charity event, actor Joaquin Phoenix, with Casey Affleck's camera watching, tells people he's quitting to pursue a career in rap music. Over the next year, we watch the actor write, rehearse, and, a couple of times, perform to an audience. He importunes Sean Combs in hopes he'll produce the record. We see the foul-mouthed actor in his nearly-bare home: he parties, smokes, bawls out his two-man entourage, talks philosophy with Affleck, and comments on celebrity and failure. Early in 2009, increasingly bloated, bearded and unkempt, Phoenix makes a monosyllabic appearance on Letterman. His persona becomes a Hollywood joke. Who's still here?
