Closing Night: Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot

Description

Caustic and wickedly funny, celebrated quadriplegic Portland cartoonist John Callahan had a knack for depicting taboo subjects – especially people with physical disabilities – without political correctness. With an engrossing and shape-shifting performance by Joaquin Phoenix as Callahan, accompanied by scene-stealing support from Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, and Jack Black, Gus Van Sant’s (Milk, My Own Private Idaho) newest film follows the life of this troubled alcoholic who journeys from rock-bottom to an oddball AA group to ultimately channeling his demons into sometimes shocking and always humorous profane art.

“Not since American Splendor explored the curmudgeonly everyman sensibility of comic-book artist Harvey Pekar has the complicated headspace of a cartoonist been entered with such infectious fondness as in Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot. A return for Gus Van Sant to the loose-limbed chronicles of outsider existences in Portland, Oregon, that first put him on the map, like Mala Noche (1986) and Drugstore Cowboy (1989), this unwieldy but consistently enjoyable portrait of quadriplegic local hero John Callahan is notable for its generosity of spirit and gentleness.” – David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
 
“What makes Phoenix’s performance especially exciting is that you’re watching not just a character go from chaos to self-possession but an actor, too. He looks unhinged when, in his ambulatory scenes, he weaves around, accosting an attractive young woman on the beach in Southern California, squatting behind a car to finish off a bottle of tequila, and, of course, sliding behind the wheel. Phoenix lets Callahan’s inner compass point due south, toward the abyss.” – David Edelstein, Vulture 

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