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A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Saturday 14 July 2018
A flawed but earnest cartoonist biopic from Van Sant

By LINDSEY BAHR Grim, uncomfortably true
Macabre is a word often and funny were Callahan's
associated with the late main operating modes. It
cartoonist John Calla- was the only way he could
han. He's the man who in make sense of the world
his widely published car- and what happened to
toons, drawn in his signa- him, or so the film posits.
ture squiggly style, poked Van Sant seems to have
fun at lesbians, Chinese tried to infuse this work with
people, the handicapped, that same sort of spirit — ir-
women, Oprah, Alzheimer's reverent, often unattract-
patients, chiropractors and ive, sometimes funny and
even sexual harassment in sometimes offensive. Told
a cartoon that features a in a jumbly, non-linear fash-
woman showing cleavage ion, Van Sant jumps back
in a tight dress telling her and forth in time with disori-
similarly outfitted colleague enting casualness, shifting
"Remember...it's only sexual from a wheelchair bound
harassment if they're not Callahan as an obviously
dateable." established and famous
His website proudly fea- artist, back to the last day
tured all the "hate mail" he walked, and then to the
sent to the newspapers early days of his group ther-
that published his cartoons. This image released by Amazon Studios shows Jack Black, left, and Joaquin Phoenix in a scene apy. It's difficult, at the be-
It's extensive. from "Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far On Foot." ginning, to wrap your head
But John Callahan wasn't Associated Press around just what you're
just a provocateur. He watching.q
was also a quadriplegic ring as the artist. The title is
alcoholic. In fact, the al- taken from Callahan's 1990
the handicap, then the was borrowed from one of Author tackles sexual assault
coholism came first, then autobiography, which itself

cartooning. Director Gus his cartoons. That drawing
very interesting subject for backup horseback in the in "A Gathering of Secrets"
Van Sant has chosen this showed a sheriff and his

his latest film, "Don't Worry, desert commenting on an
He Won't Get Far on Foot ," empty wheelchair that's By OLINE H. COGDILL without the Amish rules,
with Joaquin Phoenix star- been overturned. Associated Press generally before joining
"A Gathering of Secrets" the church. To his family,
(Minotaur), by Linda Castillo Daniel was a hard worker,
Linda Castillo's exquisitely "a good young man. ...
plotted novels delve Humble and kind and
deep into Amish life and generous." But Kate soon
culture using the prism of a discovers that Daniel was
police procedural. Without a sexual predator, preying
deriding or sentimentalizing on inexperienced young
the Amish, Castillo illustrates women who blamed
their culture while showing themselves for his unwanted
that Amish adherence attention. At least one
to traditions and silence woman, overcome by guilt,
on sensitive situations committed suicide. Their
can allow evil to seep in parents, too, often blamed
unexpectedly. their daughters, preferring This cover image released by
In her superb 10th novel, to keep the rapes secret. Minotaur shows "A Gathering
of Secrets," a novel by Linda
Castillo continues to show Kate was raised Amish Castillo.
that Amish problems are before leaving the church. Associated Press
universal, despite their She was sexually assaulted
insular ways. They aren't as a teen, and the case hate relationship" with
immune to the #MeToo weighs heavily on her. She the community to which
movement as Castillo understands the killer's she was born enhances
tackles sexual assault in "A motives as she learns more "A Gathering of Secrets."
Gathering of Secrets." about Daniel. She has much respect for
Kate Burkholder, the As in her other novels, Amish ways yet abhors
intelligent, insightful Castillo delivers a the attitudes that allow
police chief of Painters complete look at the "a devil in disguise" such
Mill, Ohio, investigates Amish community, showing as Daniel to thrive. Her
the death of 18-year-old the various sects, the rise "simple happiness" in her
Daniel Gingerich, who of Amish businesses that relationship with John
died when the family barn cater to outsiders, whom Tomasetti, an Ohio Bureau
was set on fire. Daniel was they call "the English," and of Criminal Investigation
on Rumspringa, a time the emphasis on home and agent, is well explored.
when a young person family. "A Gathering of Secrets" is a
can experience the world Kate's complicated "love- standout in a stellar series.q