C'mon C'mon

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann, Woody Norman, Scoot McNairy, Molly Webster, Jaboukie Young-White
Directed by: Mike Mills
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman (Gaby Hoffmann) asks her brother (Joaquin Phoenix) to look after her son (Woody Norman) while she focuses on helping her ex-husband (Scoot McNairy) deal with mental health issues.

Review:

Tim: I haven't been very close to the work of Mike Mills thus far. I saw 20th Century Women, which was okay but forgettable. I may need to dig deeper into his filmography after watching the delightful, powerful C'mon C'mon. This movie falls short of greatness, but it has so much heart, so much authentic emotion, that it certainly piqued my interest in what else Mills has done.

The story felt focused and yet unique to me. It was like we were let in to this family's inner circle. The story felt modern and believable to me. Every family struggles with something. This one involves a father who is dealing with mental health issues. His estranged wife has to go and help him, so she asks her radio journalist brother (who doesn't have much experience with kids) to come and watch her nine year-old son. The main focus of the story is between this boy, caught up in themes too mature for his age, and the growing relationship he has with his uncle. It's a beautiful meditation on families, on having male father figures, on the impact we have on the lives of those around us. The entire film felt so intimate, so personal, you couldn't help but be drawn into the characters and their story. Nothing in the film feels like it was exaggerated. It's a subtle movie that captures something about humanity in the 2020s that felt authentic and true.

I loved the style Mills approached the film with. Shooting the movie in black and white helped focus our attention. We're never distracted by colors or visuals- our attention is pulled directly onto the characters. I really noticed this in some of the outdoor filming locations. The characters might be walking through a park and normally, you'd be focused on them in the context of their surroundings. Here, without color, that felt less important. My attention was firmly fixed on them, what they were doing, their body language, their facial expressions. Mills also includes outtakes of interviews Joaquin Phoenix's character is doing with kids, as part of his job. This gives the movie a very realistic quality, as if we're watching a documentary. I loved how these choices grounded the movie in reality.

The cast is absolutely fantastic. Joaquin Phoenix gets a lot of deserved acclaim, but it still feels like he doesn't get his due. Somehow, this film wasn't nominated for a single Academy Award. That feels like an outrageous oversight, especially given the suspect quality of some of the big nominees. I'm not going to dwell on this, but it angers me that the Academy held up far inferior movies and ignored this quiet, beautiful one. I think Phoenix absolutely deserved a Best Actor nomination. It was a tough race (Andrew Garfield still should have won), but Phoenix deserved to be there. His performance never feels like acting. He does so many quiet things exceptionally well. It's a tremendous performance full of restraint. Some of his best moments are whispers. It's a wonderful contrast to his Academy Award winning performance in Joker. I loved the work he did in this film, especially the connection he had with Woody Norman. Norman gives a stunning performance for someone so young. He was perfect for the role, somehow managing to convey all the right emotions in his interactions with Phoenix. Seeing these two characters interact was truly a joy. It was wonderful to see them build their relationship throughout the course of the film. The level of comfort and familiarity between them felt like it truly grew as the movie progressed. These two were nothing short of fantastic and they make the movie. I really enjoyed seeing Gaby Hoffmann here, too. Hoffmann gets overshadowed a bit by Phoenix and Norman giving remarkable performances, but you can't overlook her. She is incredible in short bursts- her performance feels so lived in and authentic. She adds massively to the overall film- it wouldn't have been nearly as good without her here. I always love seeing Scoot McNairy. His role was small, but he makes a lasting impression on the film. The cast here all worked exceptionally well, and I give Mills credit for directing them all to such good performances.

This drama might never quite deliver the powerful punch you'd expect from a "great" movie, but it gets incredibly close. It's absolutely one of the best humanistic films of 2021 and it's one I'll think about for a long, long time. Often, I'll watch a movie like this, enjoy it, but realize I'll never watch it again. I would absolutely revisit C'mon C'mon again. To see these performances, to feel the emotions, to watch that scene about Norman's character having to poop (which is an all-time classic, hilarious sequence), I would unhesitatingly watch this film again. Mills created something really special here.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: 20th Century Women, Beginners; Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot; You Were Never Really Here