By Julian Wood
In order to survive or surmount the endless obstacles life can throw at us, we need forbearance and respect. Out of such weighty themes, the nimble and prolific filmmaker Gus Van Sant has forged a highly moving and engaging comedy-drama.
It is a biopic with a difference, of the late cartoonist John Callahan (Joaquin Phoenix), based on his memoir. Van Sant does show us the arc of Callahan’s fifty year life but he does not do this in a mechancial or even consecutive way. The other major element of the movie is the theme of addiction.
Callahan was a long term alcoholic and this is just as central as his talent in a way. The film constantly intercuts with his times in his AA group (in fact the film is at times in danger of tipping over into a straight-out advert for their twelve step recovery process. Perhaps in a Hollywood littered with talent succumbing and recovering, this could be a particualrly appealing American theme).
The AA meeting scenes could have been dull or pious, but there is a nice mix here of the robust group ethic of no bullshit and the sensitive portrayal of sincere self-recongition.
Callahan was born in the fifties in a small town, but his young Irish mother immediately gave him up for adoption. This was one of the factors that led to his unsettled identity but the group will not let him off the hook by saying it was the simple cause of his alcoholism.
The wise group leader Donnie (an almost unrecognisable blond Jonah Hill) is skilled at getting members not to settle for easy answers that will block their full recovery. We should mention at this point (and it is not really a spoiler) than Callahan suffered a catastrophic car crash when out on a bender with his drinking buddy Dexter (Jack Black), and has been consigned to a wheelchair for the second half of his life. It is actually by making fun of his own condition that Callahan gets in touch with his devilish sense of humour (Callahan’s wonderful spot gags punctuate the film nicely and gained laughs of recognition from the audience.
It is part of the film’s charm that it deals with disability in this playful way without minimising its personal impact. After all, it is through his hospitalsiation that he meets his gorgeous therapist and future partner Annu (Rooney Mara in perhaps the only under-written role in the piece).
We are used to seeing Phoenix blow us away and, once again, he doesn’t put a foot wrong (if you will pardon the expression). The revelation though is Hill who shakes off his brat-packy persona and gives a stunningly textured performance as Donnie. All in all, the film pulls off the task of blending its very disparate elements in a very winning way and Van Sant shows again why he has a dedicated following.
