Written by Andreas Babiolakis

The turbulent career of Michael J. Fox is no secret to many. From a beloved rising star to the face of Parkinson’s disease, Fox has won the hearts of millions of people (if not more) time and time again. A documentary on the retired actor feels like it would be pointless because of what we already know, and yet filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (known for It Might Get Loud and An Inconvenient Truth, amongst other documentaries) wanted to take on this challenge. The end result is so much more than what you would imagine given the premise on paper. Sure, we go through Michael J. Fox’s life and career from the very start — when Fox was a child star — to the present. That’s what was expected, anyway. However, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie connects us with the actor more than ever before. It is through this personal, extra information that we love Fox even more. Part of the film’s success is the recontextualizing of Fox’s career and ailment. Guggenheim prefaces Still by asking Fox what stillness meant to him (as someone who has had Parkinson’s for the majority of his adult life); Fox responds by stating that he doesn’t know. He was always hyperactive and bouncing off of the walls as an actor; his career was a mad rush from paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet (living off of quarters to spend and jam packets to eat some days), and then he lived project-to-project when Back to the Future made him a superstar overnight. Remaining stoic isn’t in his vocabulary as a professional.

Fox is featured throughout the entire film as both the narrator of the assembled footage presented and as an interview subject who talks directly to Guggenheim, and Fox uses this opportunity to be more open than ever before. That goodie-two-shoes that we have grown up with and loved is dispelled instantly when Fox pops out the occasional swear word; there’s absolutely no judgment here since I have the mouth of a sailor myself, but I’m just stating that I knew instantly that this was going to be a different take on the Michael J. Fox story when I could see that he could be himself through and through. I haven’t seen the star so comfortable before, either. It is with this level of truth that Fox proceeds to chronicle the years of his life in ways that one wouldn’t have expected. Could we have ascertained that Fox adored acting from when he was a kid? Sure. Would we have guessed that he was a poor student who didn’t complete his homework in high school? Probably not. Fox is willing to go into the darker corridors of his life (then again, this is Michael J. Fox we’re talking about, so they can only get so dark) to present his story as full as can be, including how the instant fame got to his head (particularly when he met now-wife Tracy Pollan on the set of Family Ties). Of course, Fox confessing to the parts of his life that he is ashamed of — including the alcoholism that spawned when he was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s — only adds validity to the humble nature we’re so familiar with; even Fox exposing his regrets makes us love him even more.

*Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie* does enough to turn a by-the-numbers case study on an already-established figure into a documentary that will both inform and connect with you.

Guggenheim presents Still as a sit-down interview with Fox alongside what feels like a narrative film about his life. Still flows either with recreated shots of Fox’s upbringing or through comprehensive compilations of Fox’s body of work (both referentially acknowledging his biggest projects as they are, and cleverly using snippets of his own films and shows to have Fox “respond” to situations, like having Marty McFly read a newspaper to find that Back to the Future is top of the box office). It’s an added angle that turns a conversation into a tribute to the star of the hour. The present-day Fox is the most heartbreakingly upfront, as you face the severe injuries he experiences on a regular basis (including a black eye being patched up with makeup); this is a side we never saw before, even when Fox came out to the press with his diagnosis after years of trying to hide it. What we “learn” is what we already knew back in the late nineties: Fox won’t let Parkinson’s get in the way of his life, and he is grateful for the fortunes he has experienced. Getting this message in the twenty-twenties hits a little bit differently. Fox is a retired actor and fully devoted to activism. We see a man who is refusing to give up on life; nay, a man who still hasn’t given up (that hits a little bit differently). Still references the act of stillness, contradicting Fox’s life and career. Still also celebrates that Michael J. Fox is still here, still a force to be reckoned with, and still a favourite to many. It’s safe to call Fox a national treasure at this point (here in Canada as well: I haven’t forgotten his Albertan roots), and one whose kindness, spirit, and heart transcends no matter what life tosses at him. Still is thunderous applause to a great career and an even greater man.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.