Movie Review: C’MON C’MON Is The Perfect Film About Growing Up
Written and directed by Mike Mills, C’MON C’MON is a masterpiece, in part, because it is a black and white frame on what makes a human being. Many of us, either in film, politics, or even within our daily lives, do not feel seen or represented. Our humanity masked under societal labels and personal duties that, somehow, pile up but never encompass or feel enough to display our depth. , C’MON C’MON is one of the best films of 2021 because it is so simple, it is deep.
When Jesse’s mother,Gaby Hoffmann’s Viv, has to go deal with his father’s bipolar episode, his uncle Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) steps in to learn about the absolute STRESS of raising a child. Now, albeit, if he had been raised in my mother/ a Latino household, he would not be so quick to yell or runaway. Yet, at its core, crossing all cultural differences, C’MON C’MON asks what its takes to raise a human being as much as your humanity. In essence, Mills observes how we never stop growing up, and children might be the very ones raising us to grow.
As Johnny travels from New York to New Orleans to interview children of immigrants, I felt both mirrored and moved by future generations. With their voice-over, the film becomes art, and so deeply magical in its philosophies over themes like, hope, fear, and whether there is truly any age where you either don’t have these feelings or, at least, understand them. The movie does not hide that “kids these days” are fiercely smart because they are exposed. Their tablets carry knowledge and rewire their brain so that a 5 year old can, literally, have as much scalpel precision as a brain surgeon. In essence, they grow up fast and feverishly, but will they have the power and peace their parents did not.
What I loved about Phoenix’s performance is that it casually displayed how adults are just pretending to know. Perhaps, that is what adulthood is…. pretend. Woody Norman is fantastic and matches Phoenix’s open-hearted vulnerability as Johnny because both are scared, confused, and trying to mull over past traumas including their varying relationship with their mothers.It is both the purpose and frustration of every parent to raise a child so that he or she can be better than them. Such a tall feat is not easy, and C’MON C’MON gorgeously shows why it feels impossible: you are a human being raising a human being to hope that the same humanity that never got quite better when you were a kid will, somehow, do so as they become adults. Who knows? Maybe, they will!
