PARK CITY – After screening Gus Van Sant’s new film “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot” at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival I came to the not so fresh realization that we may all be taking Joaquin Phoenix for granted. Sure, he gives strange interviews (when he speaks at all) and makes strange career mistakes now and then (such as Woody Allen’s “Irrational Man” for the creative reasons alone), but since 2012’s “The Master” he has basically delivered one acting master class after another. And now he follows up his Cannes winning performance in “You Were Never Really Here” with a profoundly impressive turn as famed cartoonist John Callahan. If only the rest of the film could completely live up to his performance.
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Based on Callahan’s memoir of the same name, “Don’t Worry” thinly, for better or worse, uses the artist’s self-discovery through Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step program to tell his life story. Adopted after six-months in an orphanage after his mother gave him up, the Oregon native moved to Southern California after high school at the start of the ’70s where he became a hardcore alcoholic (the movie does not explore how he started drinking as a young teen). After an all-night binge he is critically injured in an auto accident after a newfound acquaintance, Dexter (Jack Black, fantastic), falls asleep at the wheel. Now a quadriplegic at just 21-years-old he returns to Portland where he continues drinking, but discovers his talent as a cartoonist with a unique visual style (he was forced to hold his marker with both hands) and a wickedly dark sense of humor. Eventually it’s revealed he decided to quit drinking because of a moment of clarity when he felt a hand on his back, a hand which he believes belonged to the spirit of his long lost birth mother.
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Attending his first AA meeting Callahan meets Donnie (Jonah Hill, committed), who is running that afternoon’s session and eventually becomes his sponsor. Being under his guidance means attending weekly private meetings at Donnie’s home with his other “piglets” Reba (Beth Ditto, more please), Mike (Mark Webber, barely there), George (Udo Kier, smart casting) and Corky (Kim Gordon, works). These meetings become the basis for the narrative structure as Callahan tells his story to everyone in the group.
But, wait. That’s not all.
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Van Sant, who wrote the screenplay but collaborated with Callahan and two other writers on the story, has a lot he wants to cover. There’s also Callahan’s relationship with Swedish stewardess Annu (Rooney Mara, charming), his exploration of his electronic wheelchair (seriously, there’s a lot of it), his frustrating relationship with his longtime caregiver (Tony Greenhand, not bad for a celebrity joint roller), his creative process as a cartoonist (worth it), his search for the aforementioned birth mother that abandoned him and his contentious relationship with his welfare representative Suzanne (Carrie Brownstein, good). Van Sant constantly plays with the chronology of the story and it doesn’t always work. He also includes animated versions of some of Callahan’s signature cartoons which become a welcome diversion from yet another scene set in Donnie’s living room. Still, it’s a closer return to form for the noted auteur than Van Sant’s last feature, the disastrous “The Sea of Trees.”
The real stars of “Don’t Worry,” however, are the two most notable faces on the screen, Phoenix and Hill. As noted earlier, Phoenix is almost otherworldly here. It’s his charismatic performance that often carries the film through its repetitive moments as he expertly takes Callahan on an emotional roller coaster filled with the highest highs and the lowest lows.
Playing Donnie is arguably the biggest departure and transformation of Hill’s career. He smartly doesn’t overly indulge Donnie’s flamboyant tendencies while still making them a necessary part of his portrayal. And when he needs to dig deep when Donnie has his “moment” he shows an emotional depth we’ve never seen before. That being said, can we ponder why Van Sant didn’t cast a gay actor to play the role? Is that allowed? Was it financing? Personal choice? Was he concerned he needed someone with experience acting opposite someone of Phoenix’s caliber? Because considering how many first-time actors have significant roles we certainly think Jon Early, Drew Droege, among others could have pulled it off.
Thanks to Phoenix, though, “Don’t Worry” succeeds as a worthy tribute to Callahan’s remarkable life. We just wish Van Sant could have fashioned a film that found a way to soar by judiciously articulating less. [B]
“Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot” opens in limited release on May 11.
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