Michael J. Fox is childhood for me. Growing up in the late 1980s and early 1990s, he was everywhere. Back to the Future remains an all-time favorite film of mine. Meanwhile, I remember watching Family Ties when I stayed home from school and was just old enough to watch Spin City during its original airing. He’s always been there. Almost thirty years on from his Parkinson’s diagnosis, Fox hasn’t retreated from the spotlight, and with Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie hitting Apple TV+, he remains a vital though perhaps poignant presence. Through everything, though, he’s still here.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie tells the actor’s story in documentary form, beginning in his earliest days as a youngster in Canada through his activism in recent years. The work utilizes everything from interviews with the actor to stock footage, film clips, and reenactments to build the narrative. Fox and his wife, Tracy Pollan (along with their four children), step in front of the camera to tell their own story. Davis Guggenheim comes on to direct.
It’s hard to find words for a documentary like this. It’s not an easy sit, especially for those who (like me) are of a certain age. However, it is so important we see Michael J. Fox tell his own story.
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The actor received his Parkinson’s diagnosis in 1991 at 29. He lived with the reality in secret for a number of years before going public with his health in 1998. In his on-camera interviews, he discusses his fear of being defined by his condition or of people seeing him differently. And in watching only a few minutes from many of Fox’s interviews from the time, it’s clear why he’d feel that way.
This is perhaps the most poignant and difficult segment, though, in truth, I cried throughout. Fox brings a clear-eyed examination of not simply Parkinson’s but his life and stardom in the face of Parkinson’s. At one point, the documentary showcases a clip montage from Spin City demonstrating how Fox hid his symptoms on camera. In fact, even his co-stars weren’t aware of his fight.
In another moment, he reflects emotionally on his star persona, the effect on his fans, and his fear of letting people see him struggle. It’s difficult to watch a therapist tell him that it’s “okay” to “not be Michael J. Fox for a while.”
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Despite all this, Fox shows that while Parkinson’s might have no cure, he won’t stop. Through his words, Guggenheim crafts a beautiful theme of motion. At his peak stardom, Michael J. Fox was synonymous with youth. Marty McFly and Alex P. Keaton were just the tip of the iceberg. In the period footage, he’s always running, skateboarding, playing basketball, and more. We learn this is just part of him. It’s his need to keep moving.
As he continues confronting the disease, it is beautifully clear his need to keep moving hasn’t gone away. The movie pulls no punches, showing the battle he wages against his body. Through everything, he has the same spirit. However, his body can’t always meet the challenge. Fox doesn’t shy away from letting the film see the injuries he suffers from falls (despite how much his family wishes he would just slow down).
This isn’t simply a film about Parkinson’s. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is a story about Hollywood, the 1980s and star persona. We see Fox move from Canada, score his career-making roles on Family Ties, and then Back to the Future in rapid succession. This is Hollywood in the mid-1980s and everything that implies. Parties, The Brat Pack and more. To quote Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast.”
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This is an intimate story. The talking head portions don’t extend beyond Fox and his family. This film isn’t interested in how our culture sees Michael J. Fox and his career. Instead, we’re invested in how he sees it, and largely, the filmmaking allows this. The clips are well-chosen, and the interviews carefully depicted. The only struggles are some reconstructions from Fox’s life feel straight out of a “ripped from the headlines” biopic. Ultimately though, these are few and far between.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is a beautiful and intimately scaled documentary. As mentioned, this certainly taps into nostalgia for those of us “of a certain age.” At the same time, though, this movie has one purpose: for Michael J. Fox to tell his story definitively. Almost 30 years on, he’s fought royally, he’s struggled mightily, but through all this, he’s still here.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is live now on Apple TV+.
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