Movie Review: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Nobody’s perfect and, even by his own account, during the peak of his fame actor Michael J. Fox sometimes engaged in less than angelic behavior. But he managed to remain scandal-free in the public eye, which along with his charisma and boyish good looks allowed him to become and remain one of the more universally liked American celebrities. Which made his announcement in 1998 that he had been living with Parkinson’s disease for several years all the more impactful with the general public, bringing much-needed attention to the still somewhat mysterious affliction.

Davis Guggenheim’s Still spends a good deal of time focusing on Fox’s life as it is now, going to physical therapy and dealing with injuries caused by his condition, but also spending time with his family and doing his best to enjoy the life he has left. But it also jumps back and forth in time, cleverly using a mix of reenactments, interviews, and footage from the actor’s body of work to cover the major beats of his life story. The movie only briefly covers his upbringing in Canada and his initial foray into acting, before settling in and spending more time on the struggles of being a young man, alone and struggling to make it in Los Angeles and then finally lingering the longest on his biggest hits, the sitcom Family Ties and movie Back to the Future, both of which were filming simultaneously during two particularly sleepless months.

Much less time is given over to his subsequent work, except how it relates to his discovery that he has early-onset Parkinson’s, and then how he endeavored to hide it from everyone outside of his immediate family, and how in so doing he was also in some ways hiding the reality of the situation from himself. There is no cure for Parkinson’s and so his condition continued to worsen, eventually reaching a point where he felt he could no longer keep it a secret and so announced it to the world, leading us up to where we are now and the interviews and intimate footage of his life shot for this film.

There is an inherent sadness to the movie, though it isn’t one that the filmmakers try to play up. Instead, Fox and director Guggenheim largely focus on the more cheerful aspects of his life and ultimately on the positive things that Michael has been able to take away from life with the disease. The sections that take place in the 80s as he rose to stardom are irresistibly energetic blasts of nostalgia that are sure to evoke smiles in those who remember the time, while those in the present are more subdued yet still full of optimism and love, especially when you see him with his family. The affection shared between Michael and his wife, Tracy, is especially endearing; their meeting portrayed via clips of their characters on Family Ties first falling in love with each other. Though it can be hard to see someone so many of us remember fondly struggling with such a debilitating disease, there is still a lot of the Michael J. Fox we all love in there. His voice remains instantly recognizable, some of that youthful charm remains even in his 60s, and his wit and charisma remain intact. Still is a smartly assembled documentary that is more joyful to watch than you might first expect, and easily one of my favorite films of the year. ★★★★★