C’Mon C’Mon

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann, Scoot McNairy, and Woody Norman

Directed by Mick Mills

From A24

Release date: November 19^th, 2021

 

I was lucky enough to see C’Mon C’mon at the 106 year-old Paramount Theatre during this year’s Austin Film Festival. It’s a great old theatre, replete with those uncomfortable fold chair seats that have zero leg room. It sounds like I’m complaining but, really, I’m not. It’s a privilege to see anything there.

C’mon C’mon is about Johnny (Phoenix), a documentary filmmaker who is on a project that takes him to different cities to interview young people. Johnny’s sister, Viv (Hofmann), is struggling to deal with her husband’s, Paul (McNairy), bipolar disorder. The couple have a young son, Jesse (Norman) caught in the middle and Johnny agrees to take a break from filming to go to Los Angeles to watch Jesse for a while. The two are basically strangers and Johnny must find a way to get through to Jesse while they wait for Viv to come home.

The more I think about this film (I’m already three weeks out from seeing this), the more I love it. First off, the film is beautifully shot in black and white. Robbie Ryan (The Favourite, Fish Tank) has done a tremendous job here. The film is gorgeous. One of my favorite things about it are the locations. It showed me parts of New York City I’ve never seen before. Even the establishing shots of the city were different. They approached it from an angle I’d hadn’t seen. I’ve seen a lot of movies, so it was so refreshing to see New York City lovingly depicted this way.

Joaquin Phoenix will probably get an Oscar nod for his performance here. He is really fantastic as Johnny. He’s running the gamut of emotions trying to care for his young nephew. Jesse is rather precocious but also sensitive, much like the children he’s been interviewing for his project. I really bought the connection Phoenix had with Woody Norman. Wow, Norman was terrific, too. Sometimes child actors are the weak link in a movie but not here. It was good to see Gaby Hoffman again. She’s amazing as Viv. She’s got so much on her plate, it’s just overflowing. Your heart goes out to her. She stuck between leaving her husband to his own devices and staying home to take care of her child. The choice is a painful one for any parent. Hoffmann’s performance, like Phoenix and Norman, should be recognized.

It might’ve been just me, but I cried more than once during the film. I connected to it because I have a young son. He’s a few years older than Jesse, of course, but the connection was still there. It helped that Norman did an amazing job. Writer/Director Mike Mills (20^th Century Women) has made a wonderful film about the relationship between families and just how difficult it is to navigate them when one member is breaking down. I loved the look of this movie. It’s also warm, funny, and emotions from all are laid bare for all to see. I especially loved the portrayal of motherhood and just how difficult a job it can be. You should definitely catch C'Mon C'Mon when you can. You'll be glad you did.

Photos courtesy of A24
 

As you can see, our site has been a bit dormant for the past year or so. If you follow either me, Sarah Jane, or Eric on Twitter, you know that 2021 has been our own little annus horribilus. There was the fire in February caused by the Texas Freeze. We lived in a hotel for a month until we found a new place to live. After that, we were both hospitalized at the same time. We're okay now, although Eric is still in his recovery phase after his stroke and heart attack. See? It's been a year. We're just biding our time until 2022. Hopefully, that will be our year. It's taken a long time to come. 

We wanted to revive the site so that we can post more of our writing. I've got a few outlets I already write for including the Austin Chronicle, Daily Grindhouse, OneOfUs, and F!This Movie but I wanted to be able to post reviews and write-ups that I don't have an outlet for currently. I just recently attended the Austin Film Festival and did write a couple of reviews for the Austin Chronicle but I saw another four where I didn't have an outlet for reviews for the films C'Mon C'Mon, The Humans, The Big Bend, and Spencer. I mean, I can always write something up and post it on Letterboxd but, as I said, I'd like to start posting things here as well. 

So watch this space for more writings from me and from Eric.