Gus Van Sant Directs DON'T WORRY, HE WON'T GET FAR ON FOOT - Stars Joaquin Phoenix and Jonah Hill

The biopic film draws using artistic license, on the life of John Callahan (JC).  JC was an ironic & irreverent acclaimed cartoonist (b. Amer. 1951-2010).  The film's dir. & screenwriter, Gus Van Sant (VS) (b. Amer 1952) adapted the film from Callahan's auto-biography.  Vs's perceptive insights and deft direction steer "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far..." with astute sensibilities along the scope of human strife and sustenance.  VS received 2 Oscar noms. for directing "Good Will Hunting" & "Milk".  VS is an established actor & currently in the Emmy winning series "Portlandia."  JC (Joaquin Phoenix in an Oscar worthy portrayal) is an apathetic alcoholic living in LA during the 70s early 80s during his early 30s.  The cleverly sequenced bio shifts from JC's life before & after the catastrophic car accident which rendered him a quadrapalegic (with limited movement in his right hand).  Callahan is seen in his automated wheel-chair racing recklessly through traffic & on city sidewalks when he takes a nasty spill.  He's splayed in the street calling out for help.  The trope to the film focuses on the need, ability & willingness to ask seek & provide help & forgiveness.  A group of young skateboarders come to JC's aid after his stunning wipe out.  He shares a self-deprecating life with the teens & some of his recent drawings.  Callahan is seen as a featured speaker on stage sharing his life story beginning with "...the last day I walked..." Prior to the accident HC was barely able to function without consuming alcohol from the moment he arose and living in squalor.  He's out partying the night of the car accident when he's approached & befriended by Dexter (Jack Black in a brief but pivotal role).  Dexter & JC are inebriated with Dexter driving.  JC wakes in a hospita, fully restrained in a gruesome apparatus, apparently unaware how he got there.  The Dr. bluntly delivers the news to JC that he will be a quadriplegic for life.  Life in the hospital is torturous & inhumane. He is studied by insensitive medical staff & med-students.  The only ray of sunshine comes from a visiting vision of beauty, social worker Annu (Rooney Mara).  Annu becomes his lover after coincidentally connecting in a public library.  Mara is lovely but not believable as John's girlfriend. VS parodies Jane Fonda & John Voight's relationship from the film "Coming Home." JC sinks further into self-destruction & alcoholism until he seeks help from AA.   Here he meets Donnie (Jonah Hill in an Oscar winning performance).  Donnie welcomes him into his home & his motley network of AA members.  The repetitiveness of scenes and progress & set-backs serve to reveal the despairing & unfathomable (too many) disease of alcoholism & its arduous recovery.  Asking for help & committing to the work of recovery set John on a track to rediscovering his inner strength, irreverent humor & illustrative skills.  At an AA meeting someone says, "Maybe life isn't supposed to be as amazing as it's supposed to be."  "...He Won't Get Far on Foot" is both intoxicating & inspiring.