C'mon C'mon (2021)

3 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Listen to What the Kids Said

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

While it may not sound like much, Mike Mills's drama is a rare combination of touching emotional transparency and a thoughtful, intuitive essay-like structure as it examines how kids fit in the world.

Radio journalist Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) is working on a project, interviewing children about life, the future, etc. He volunteers to look after his 9 year-old nephew Jesse (Woody Norman), when his sister, Viv (Gaby Hoffmann), must travel to the West Coast help her bipolar ex-husband (Scoot McNairy). Viv's trip takes longer than expected, and Johnny ends up taking Jesse on the road with him to do his radio interviews.

Their time spent together deepens their relationship and expands their views on life, with Jesse learning to listen to sounds through Johnny's microphone. Johnny also re-bonds with his sister, with whom he had a falling out after the death of their mother. Johnny learns that kids can be amazing, and frustrating, and that mistakes will be made, and that that's OK.

Certainly there's a formula to the grumpy single man going on a road trip with a cheeky, precocious kid (with moptop hair), and both emerging as better people, but C'mon C'mon is not that movie, not in the slightest. Shot in dreamy black-and-white, the movie takes its time. There's no destination here... only the journey. Johnny (Phoenix gives his tenderest, most open-hearted performance since Her) coaxes moving answers from the children he interviews, but how to apply that information to life? And how to use it to understand his relationship with Jesse?

In an early scene, Jesse talks about "fungus tubes" that connect everything in nature, and that's a decent metaphor for the movie. There's nothing to do but go moment by moment, as Jesse asks pointed questions, throws tantrums, runs off, plays lovingly, cuddles, and imagines. Johnny recaps and analyzes things in lovely phone calls to his sister, and then each little "chapter" is capped with a reading from some kind of nonfiction essay. (Johnny's personal journals also provide breaks.)

The excellent performances — including those by Norman and Hoffman — and Mills's fearless devotion to honesty give C'mon C'mon a life pulse. Indeed, the movie is so much like tangled, beautiful memories that it may be difficult to recall the movie in order.

Lionsgate's 2022 Blu-ray release includes a rich, gloriously textured black-and-white video transfer, and a clean audio transfer to match (the songs sound great). Mills provides a director's commentary track, but the only extra, in addition to a digital copy, is an 8-minute behind-the-scenes featurette. When I interviewed Mills for this film in October of 2021, he told me about some of the extras he had in mind for this release, and they're simply not here. It's a bit surprising that it's such a bare-bones disc. But perhaps A24 is planning on doing a deluxe edition later on, as it did for Midsommar. Nonetheless, this film is very much worth seeking out, and is Recommended.