Everyone speaks in C’mon C’mon, a film about intelligence and insight that nonetheless remains a cautious and sometimes frustrating study of the failures in big cities, in the same way that it is about being sensitive. An impeccable looking film about a mangy radio journalist trying to get the pulse of American citizens, by Joaquin Phoenix in his first appearance since his Joker Oscar turn and highlighted by a precocious performance by young newcomer Woody Norman only provisional and partly edifying results. This A24 release premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and will open after its screening at the New York Film Festival on October 4th, but a date has not yet been set. Deadline Writer Director Mike Mills attracted critical interest with very good castings in three previous feature films spread over 12 years: Thumbsucker, Beginners and 20th Century Women. His new film, which is in great black and white imagery, focuses on smart, water-stepping big-city dwellers trying to make a coherent understanding of society in general as they watch even their family ties fray in ways that only they can difficult to get to grips with. These men and women do not know how to improve their lives because their vaunted intellectual qualifications have offered them little in the way of their endeavors. Related Story A vaxxed and tested Telluride film festival is a triumph in the age of Covid Given their cultural and academic merits, the characters here look no better than college students to cater to the full demands of life. Never married and childless, Johnny (Phoenix) is a lovable, hippie, middle-aged slob who lives in New York’s Chinatown and currently has the job of capturing young people’s views of the future, their hopes, fears, and expectations. Given its sloppy looks, this is a station that will never be welcome on TV. ‘Come on, come on’ trailer: Joaquin Phoenix Chills in Mike Mills’ new movie Since Johnny’s sister Viv (Gaby Hoffmann) is unable to look after her son Jesse (Norman) at the moment, she drops the boy her brother as he sets off to assess the cultural climate. Jesse is a precocious 9-year-old with the attitude and vocabulary of a super-intelligent teenager that instantly reminds British Norman of a very young Woody Allen (and one wonders if he might be after the weird writer). He surely could have been great in an Allen movie and lets that movie boil when he’s on screen. As the two stumble across the country from Detroit to New Orleans, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and finally back to Gotham, a sense of meandering takes place both geographically and dramatically. Johnny asks the same questions everywhere, and no matter how far they travel, the dramatic trajectory never leads to a particularly interesting place and stays in a self-centered bubble all the time. Additionally, the characters’ neuroses feel generalized, not specific enough to spark much interest in how they ended up on the margins of professionalism despite their shrewdness. What makes C’mon C’mon by and large is the camera of Irish cameraman Robbie Ryan, who regularly shoots for Ken Loach and Andrea Arnold and who most recently caused a sensation with his work on The Favorite. His gleaming monochrome work here, almost entirely on big cities, is both bold and warmly intimate, a constant sight. Phoenix looks like a mangy old living room pillow that hasn’t been cleaned or reupholstered in 20 years and conveys a dingy amiability that it seldom, if ever, shown in a performance. He and Norman are a very good odd couple, whose interactions have more substance than any knowledge the adult man gives the citizens he interviews about the state of the world. It is this aspect of the film that remains frustrating, reminiscent of the famous slogan that accompanied another road movie, Easy Rider, more than 50 years ago – “A man went looking for America. And couldn’t find it anywhere. ”
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