‘Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie’ is a remarkable survivor story

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It’s easy to think that if you were a famous person who got diagnosed with an incurable disease at the height of your fame you would disappear from public view after the initial revelation of your condition.

That’s not Michael J. Fox’s style, however.

The Canadian actor was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991 at the age of 29 and went public in 1998. Since then, he has continued to act — stepping away in 2020 when he was having trouble memorizing lines — written four books and been the very public face of the search for a cure through his Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

And now, at 61, he has allowed his life story to be put onscreen in the captivating documentary “Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.”

Director Davis Guggenheim, who won an Oscar for the climate change doc “An Inconvenient Truth,” has done an excellent job of combining Fox’s audiobook narration, re-enactments, one-on-one interviews, clips from Fox’s many TV series and films, and footage of Fox with his family and therapist into a kinetic whole.

There is a sense in the parts of the film that deal with Fox’s pursuit of a career — quitting high school in Burnaby, B.C., to move to Hollywood — that he was in constant motion. And, of course, in the present day, constant involuntary motion is a hallmark of his disease.

Fox calls it “one of the ironies of life” that “I couldn’t be still until I could literally no longer keep still.”

The title, “Still,” is also a play on the idea that this film is a continuation of Fox’s oeuvre, another Michael J. Fox movie.

I took an additional meaning from the word: that Fox is still himself, that Parkinson’s and its physical toll haven’t diminished the optimism and drive that allowed a diminutive Canadian kid to chase his dreams.

An irrepressible, self-deprecating sense of humour bubbles through in his talks with Guggenheim, even when discussing his falls — “Gravity is real, even if you’re only falling from my height” — and the broken bones they generate.

At a medical appointment for a dislocated shoulder he wryly describes the ongoing injuries as “a festival of self abuse.”

Nor do Fox and the film shy away from the less flattering parts of being a big star: the alcohol abuse, the ego — “I was the boy prince of Hollywood,” he says — or his virtual abandonment of wife Tracy Pollan and their oldest children as he frantically chased movie roles to avoid thinking about his Parkinson’s.

You might, in fact, have forgotten just how famous Fox was in the 1980s thanks to “Family Ties” and “Back to the Future,” and in the ’90s with “Spin City.” “Still” will remind you, with some eye-opening insight into just what a wild ride it was.

Fox says Parkinson’s was “the cosmic price I had to pay for all my success.”

The doc leaves little doubt it’s a steep price, although Fox never goes for sympathy, not even when he matter-of-factly admits to Guggenheim that he’s in intense pain.

You will likely find yourself feeling a renewed admiration for Fox as you watch, which I’m sure he would prefer to pity.

“If you pity me it’s never gonna get to me,” he says. “I’m not pathetic, I’ve got s–t going on. I’m a tough son of a bitch.”

Queen of Hearts

I confess when I heard about the “Bridgerton” prequel “Queen Charlotte,” I expected to be underwhelmed. Was not a separate series about the monarch who rules the social whirl of “Bridgerton” just overkill? Well, dearest gentle reader, I was wrong.

In fact, I was quite taken with “Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,” which moves beyond the frothiness of the original series to give a touching portrayal of a young couple finding love in a marriage that neither wanted.

Whereas “Bridgerton” is usually about the seduction, with matrimony the end goal for its reluctant but lusting lovers, the romance between Charlotte (India Amarteifio) and King George III (Corey Mylchreest) begins with marriage: they first lay eyes on each other minutes before their wedding as Charlotte attempts to escape by climbing a garden wall.

But the obvious spark between them is nearly tamped out as they navigate homesickness (hers), mental illness (his) and the burden of leading a racial experiment, with a white king marrying a Black princess.

In “Queen Charlotte,” love and duty mingle — whether it’s about producing heirs, running a kingdom or being a loyal servant, the latter embodied by Charlotte’s constant shadow, faithful Brimsley (Sam Clemmett) — and the series pays particular attention to the emotional labour of women in a codified and patriarchal society.

That’s especially evident in the standout character of Agatha Danbury, the younger version of “Bridgerton’s” formidable Lady Danbury, played with wit, grace and verve by Arsema Thomas. Her path was set for her at a very young age, but she breaks with convention in seizing an independent, albeit lonelier, future for yourself.

You may find yourself swooning as you watch “Queen Charlotte,” not necessarily for the sex scenes but for the flashes of heart-stirring devotion between its characters.

Debra Yeo is a deputy editor and a contributor to the Star’s Culture section. She is based in Toronto. Follow her on Twitter: @realityeo

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