Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot may be a lengthy title for a simple biopic about the life of cartoonist John Callahan, but it fits his impact perfectly. This film is an engaging and emotional story about Callahan and his troubled legacy that encapsulates the late artists' life very well. Even though many of this movie's technical elements were a bit distracting and did not blend with the writing, I still enjoyed this film for the touching story that is was aiming to tell.
Gus Van Sant adapted and directed this film from the autobiography of the same name written by John Callahan himself. The script is great and provides some very interesting insight into the life of John after he was paralyzed at age 21. The struggles that he had to go through with finding his true birth mother and dealing with his alcoholism aided in telling his troubling story extremely well. Joaquin Phoenix embodies these struggles very well and gives an incredible performance. The other surprising standout performance, however, was from Jonah Hill, who plays Donny, John's hippie AA coach. Hill gave a very emotional performance in this film as well and brought a lot of life to his character that wasn't even necessarily in the script. His battle with AIDS and also leading the group of alcoholics paved the way for a lot of solid dialogue for his character, especially between him and the others. Even though Jack Black and Rooney Mara were not the focus of this film and only in a few, select scenes, they portrayed their characters well too. Especially Jack Black, who I had never seen in a decently emotional role before. These performances are what truly carry this film and the chemistry shared between the entire cast was undeniable.
While Van Sant does an incredible job of adapting the novel into this script, his directing was not quite on par. The main issue with this film was that its tone was very messy and all over the place. It is almost as if Van Sant was attempting to have an indie tone for this biopic but with A-list star power behind it. While this can be pulled off in many movies, the different elements driving this film clashed too hard to achieve that. The pacing was also a big problem for me, as the movie started off very humorously but did not transition into the more dramatic parts well. The editing was very quick and even though the dialogue matched up between John's different scenarios, it was paced much differently than the rest of the film. It could not quite find its footing until the flashback sequences of John's drunk driving accident leading to his drinking. Once Rooney Mara's character Annu and John's aide Tim, played by Tony Greenhand, were introduced, that is when the character development and much richer story began to play out.
Another distracting part of this film was the cinematography done by Christopher Blauvelt. In almost every scene, whether it was for comedic or dramatic effect, there were very quick zooms and pan-outs that seemed very amateurish and made it seem like a documentary, especially during the heartfelt AA scenes. I'm certain that was what Van Sant was aiming for, but it was not a good choice for the telling of this story. This really diverted my attention from the story that was being told and falls into that same category of attempting to achieve an indie tone. The only technical piece of this film that I really enjoyed was the animation of John's cartoons into the film. Those animated sequences flowed very well with the script and provided a lighter breath of air from the darker parts of his life. I only wish they had focused more on John's rehabilitation-through-art phase of his life in the script, as that is what he became known for.
Joaquin Phoenix and the rest of the cast shines in this subtle but powerful biopic of the late, Portland-based cartoonist. Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot is a decently-written story of this paralyzed artist's journey that is carried by the actors and actresses involved, despite some issues with the pacing, directing, and cinematography.
My Rating: ★★★
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