Bohemian Crip Watches Movies: Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot...

Ok, before the reviewing and snark starts,I think I have some tips for screenwriters and directors in America.

-being born with a disability doesn't really mean there is no conflict or identity issues. Granted, it's not like waking up after a Volkswagen crashes into a highway pylon, but we don't have a special manual to manage our stuff(as much as people tend to want to believe "not knowing what you're missing" is a huge help or something. Also, lucky for us there are no huge conglomerates both beaming and exaggerating "what we're missing" at any hour of the day or night.  Oh, wait...)

_I don't think there was a single paralyzed actor in any of the rehab scenes...seriously?It's bad enough that lead actors tend to view disability as both award-bait and some kind of emoting decathalon,(I get the language concerns, but "Tropic Thunder" made me laugh for lampooning this.) but we can't be supporting cast in a *disability* movie. Kind of insulting, even for someone who's left a lot of her passion about representation in the keepsake box with the high school yearbooks.

All of that being said, however, "Foot" was decent flick which made good use of the Callahan memoir as source material(The chronology might get confusing if you are not deeply familiar with the book of the same name, like me.) Joaquin's performance was good, but, I don't know, for most of the movie I feel like the note he most took to heart might have been something like "He's a cripple, but, like, a *baller* cripple." although I think Van Sant is too good of a director to have really taken it there, but it made it hard to believe him till the end.I liked that some of the icky parts of disabled life appeared in this, as well as vintage chairs, etc.
While everyone will prob say how brave Phoenix was to pee in front of us,I think it was really nice to see something understated from Jonah Hill, whom I've persisted in liking as an actor without really being sure why...I'd love to tell you I'd thought he had this in him, but it's nice to get a surprise about an actor without a rogue penis, or grabby hands and stuff ,attached.