C'mon C'mon

 

C'mon C'mon
Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Woody Norman, Gaby Hoffmann, Scoot McNairy
Directed by Mike Mills

"To visit planet Earth, you'll have to be born as a human child. At first you'll have to learn to use your human body. To move your arms and legs, to pull yourself upright. You will learn to walk and run, to use your hands. To make sounds and form words. There'll be so much for you to learn, and so much for you to feel. Sadness, joy, disappointment, and wonder. Over the years you'll try to make sense of that happy, sad, full, always-shifting life you are in. And when the time comes to return to your star, it may be hard to say goodbye to that strangely beautiful world." This excerpt from Claire A. Nivola's "Star Child" serves as the emotional core of the black-and-white family drama film "C'mon C'mon" from the director of "Beginners" and "20th Century Women," and fits perfectly into the narrative that the story tells: a tale about a broken family coming together to help one another in their greatest need, and in doing so helped themselves become better versions of themselves.

Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) is an audio producer who travels the country talking to children about their thoughts and their futures, and of course receiving very different answers depending on who he's interviewing. He doesn't have a family of his own, and is estranged from his sister Viv (Gaby Hoffmann) after their mother's death due to dementia. One day he gets a call from Viv, asking him to watch her precocious nine-year-old son Jesse (Woody Norman), so she can help her estranged husband Paul (Scoot McNairy) with his own mental illness. Johnny agrees, and as soon as Jesse lands, the two form a bond despite Jesse's inquisitive and offbeat nature and Johnny's reluctance to to open up to his nephew about his life. When Johnny's job takes him to New York City from his current home in Detroit, he takes Jesse with him, and soon learns the ups, downs, highs, and pitfalls that comes with being a parent, as he struggles to keep a hold on Jesse and help himself heal from past wounds and barriers he put up himself.

"C'mon C'mon" isn't one of those big-budget action films, period pieces, or even one of those swelling dramatic films, but rather it feels extremely personal, a movie that relies on introspection and reflection of one's own life through the lens of others around them, and helps to develop their characters and build them up into something more pronounced. Mike Mills wrote and directed this hauntingly beautiful film that's based on his relationship with his own son, and you can sense that fatherly feel even though Johnny is Jesse's uncle, he serves more as a father figure than Jesse's known up to that point. The movie is as much about Johnny as it is Jesse, and even bout Viv and their own unique journeys and how each one shapes the others, convalescing in an exceptional story that highlights the good in everyone no matter how awful they may appear.

Coming off his Oscar-winning performance as Joker, Joaquin Phoenix does a complete 180 in his filming choices, shedding any vile retrospect from his previous role and fully tackling a surrogate father role here, as he traverses the rough line between caring for a rambunctious child and maintaining his own sense of sanity, and Phoenix really performs to his strengths here. He has a conversation with his sister at one point, asking her how she does it, and there's probably not a parent out there who doesn't have the same question, and it's one that I (a single person with absolutely no desire to ever breed offspring) often wonder when I see friends with kids, and how the heck they do it. It's an enigma to me, as much as it is to Phoenix's Johnny, and you sense he's a man out of his element with Jesse. Even though the two bond in many ways, there's moments of sheer panic (especially when Johnny looses Jesse at the store) that I'm sure also every parent fears, and you can sense that palpitation in Johnny's reactions, and how he uses the emotions at the moment to momentarily drive a wedge between him and his nephew.

Gaby Hoffmann plays Viv with a deep sense of realism that parents wouldn't normally let anyone else see - the tired, emotionally drained mother who has to handle a clamorous child while also contending with a mentally ill ex and dealing with the fallout between herself and Johnny in the different ways they dealt with their mother's death. Viv is drained, and you can sense it in Hoffmann's haunting performance, and again, for any parent out there, you've probably felt the same way (thankfully I never have).

Young newcomer Woody Norman rounds out this triangle of performers as the young, exuberant Jesse, and he absolutely nails his performance, especially when you take into account that he's British, pulling off a perfect American accent (something that not even some seasoned veterans can do easily). He plays Jesse as this wild child, but also doesn't make him totally insufferable, unlike other child stars in other films, like the crazy son in "The Babadook." He's unruly and unpredictable, but also filled with deeper philosophical questions that no nine-year-old should have to think about, and often retreats into his own sordid story that he concocts in his head, such as being an orphan despite having a mother and father. While he may be a handful at times, Norman gives Jesse a deeper meaning than just the crying, tempter-tantrum ridden child you'd expect to see.

The quote from Claire A. Nivola's "Star Child" really does serve as the emotional center of the film, and you can't help but connect the events of the movie to that quote. Jesse is just beginning to experience this brave new world, but it's also something that's deeply impacted Johnny and Viv as well, but on a more personal, more detrimental level. You witness these characters all going through the varying emotions Nivola lays out, and each one does so in a deeply introspective way that uniquely makes this film devoid of any "bad" guys, even though it could've been littered with them: Johnny could've been an emotionally closed-off individual who doesn't give Jesse a second thought, Viv could've been seen as the emotionally battered careless mother, and Jesse could've been portrayed as an Adderall-needing little basket-case, but that's not the case for any of them. They're all humans, all people, and all struggling with the depths life throws at them while celebrating the small victories that really makes life worth living, and highlights the importance of family and love.

Relying on his own story with his son as his inspiration, Mike Mills' "C'mon C'mon" is a celebration of the dynamic family unit, and serves as an introspective look into each of our lives in our small, minute existence in this otherwise grand world.

The Score: A+