Read Jim Batts’ review of C’MON C’MON HERE. The Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave in St. Louis), the best place in St. Louis to see movies! The Hi-Pointe has the best popcorn, the biggest screen, and a great beer selection! No reservations required at The Hi-Pointe. Just show up! Joaquin Phoenix in C’MON C’MONopens this Friday November 26th at The Hi-Pointe.There will be an advance screening November 25th at 7pm. The Hi-Pointe’s site can be found HERE
Joaquin Phoenix, Woody Norman (L-R)
Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) and his young nephew (Woody Norman) forge a tenuous but transformational relationship when they are unexpectedly thrown together in this delicate and deeply moving story about the connections between adults and children, the past and the future, from writer-director Mike Mills.
With the first of the two big end-of-the-year holidays upon us, many theatres will be showing family films. And while most are of the “all ages” category (and yes, a big Disney animated one is on the way), this new release tackles the ups-and-downs of an often scattered, and a tad dysfunctional, family unit. For many single adults, the big “Thursday meal” is a chance to reconnect with the offspring of your siblings, to assume the moniker of “doting aunt” or “cool uncle”. You get to have some fun with the lil’ tykes, but you can hand them off to their folks when they become tired or cranky. The new film wonders how an adult reacts when they’re suddenly thrust into the guardian role. More than likely you’d resort to a familiar phrase while urging them to get ready for an outing or off to school: C’MON C’MON!
Near forty-something and single Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) has a somewhat nomadic life as a roving “audio-journalist” for a major radio company. He travels from city to city interviewing youngsters (mainly) about their concerns and aspirations. During some “downtime” he’s surprised to get a phone call from his sister Viv (Gaby Hoffmann). Things became strained between the siblings during the last months of their late mother’s descent into dementia. Now Viv is in a bind. Her suburban LA lifestyle is in chaos after her bi-polar husband Paul (Scott McNairy) dashed away to San Francisco. She needs to track him down and get him back into therapy. However, she can’t take their nine-year-old son Jesse (Woody Norman) with her. And so Johnny agrees to stay with the boy despite his sometimes off-putting quirks (pretending to be a wandering orphan is a night-time ritual). . Unfortunately her trip doesn’t go as smoothly as she hoped, so Viv begs Johnny to stay a bit longer. Ah, but his duty/job calls and despite Viv’s trepidations she allows him to take Jesse on his return trip to NYC and later to New Orleans. And though Jesse’s fascinated by the audio gear, the two clash as he tests Johnny’s patience. Can he keep his…stuff..together as the wait for the big family reunion gets longer…and longer?
In his first feature after his Oscar-winning turn as THE JOKER, Phoenix imbues Johnny with a quiet stoic demeanor, one that masks what’s bubbling under the surface. We learn of Johnny’s recent breakup, which tells us that he’s just trying to move past it, to put his head down and do the work of living. And although his job consists of interviews, he’s not really connecting with anyone. It turns out that his family’s there to shake him out of his stupor. Phoenix shows us how Johnny is opening up as a surrogate parent, but he also conveys the panic and aggravations as his logical guy deals with the whims of his charge. And Norman as Jesse can be quite a handful, to say the least. There’s no hint of precious cuteness here. Yes, his lack of a filter can be amusing, but his stubbornness leading to risky behavior (he can vanish in a flash) is exasperating to witness. Then Norman shows us that Jesse has some big issues as he sees himself as an obstacle to his family’s healing. This is a kid just as complicated as the adults. He’s lucky to have Viv, who Hoffmann plays as a woman spinning so many plates as she tries to “fix” her and Jesse’s life. She believes herself to be Paul’s only lifeline as she struggles with guilt over leaving, just for a while, Jesse. Hoffman’s got the nurturing nature down pat, although we see her fiery temper as she tries to work through her past with Johnny. And although we mostly see him in sporadic and short flashbacks, McNairy seems vividly real as a man flaying in a spiral toward madness.
Writer/director Mike Mills brings a documentary-style intimacy to this look at skewed family dynamics. There’s no flashy storytelling flourishes as he uses Robbie Rayan’s haunting black and white cinematography to focus on the ever-changing relationship of Johnny and Jesse. There’s some splendid location work, especially in still-recovering New Orleans, and excellent use of literature to further the drama, with narrated book excepts with titles crediting the writers. And there are terrific interview sequences that feel as though the director and the actor (Phoenix’s having to really “think on his feet”) just want to see where the subjects will take them. These scenes augment and build on the evolving rapport between the two leads, whose conversations never feel plotted or strained. By the story’s end, it seems that both characters have grown and evolved. And they’re enriched, just as viewers will feel after taking in C’MON C’MON.
3 Out of 4
C’MON C’MON is now playing in select cities and will screen exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac and the Hi-Pointe Theatre on Wednesday, November 24, 2021.
Director Mike Mills has a knack for adding depth and consequence to seemingly inconsequential moments. 20th CENTURY WOMEN is about those moments – the small conversations in a bedroom with friends or a discussion in the kitchen with your mom that you didn’t know in the moment would leave such an indelible mark on your life. Mills strings together a series of short moments in a way that you get to know really know these characters. These everyday moments reveal quirks and contradiction, creating complexity; or more simply put… real characters.
Set in Santa Barbara, the film follows Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening), a single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann). Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women (Greta Gerwig and Elle Fanning) to help out her son when she begins to feel that he is slipping away from her.
Each frame is bursting with energy as Mills documents the laughs and the tears in a warm sunny palette. Like the director’s previous work, the visuals and music become an essential part of the story. The film becomes a sort of collage, showing photos throughout from the characters’ past and that of America. While he goes a little bit too heavy at times with an Instagram-like filter in some shots, the film is still a delight to watch.
Dorothea is a force to be reckoned and Annette Bening captures her with a reserved but unexpected gusto, in what will surely become one of Bening’s defining roles in her career. Her chain smoking is the only constant in the film, otherwise you never quite know how she will react in any given scene – except that more than likely her assertive and sometimes brash tone will make you chuckle. Although always captivating on screen, Gerwig mainly plays to her strengths, portraying an artsy free spirit who doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life either.
There’s a scene late on around a dinner table that is one of the funniest and most genuine “honest to a fault” moments of 2016. Each character is explored as a normal discussion veers to what most would consider “improper” dinner conversation. While the emotional beats throughout the film don’t land as heavily as they did in Mills’ previous film BEGINNERS, the characters might be richer, each one layered with suppressed guilt and regret.
Although it may appear like we do, in life, we don’t have all the answers. Most of life is about figuring things out in the moment. 20th CENTURY WOMEN is a funny and poignant celebration of those people. The kind of people who are still searching, and Mills is here to say that that’s ok.
Overall score: 4 out of 5
20th Century Women opens in St. Louis on January 21st
A24 has released the first trailer for 20TH CENTURY WOMEN.
Acclaimed filmmaker Mike Mills (the Academy Award- winning BEGINNERS) brings us a richly multilayered, funny, heart-stirring celebration of the complexities of women, family, time, and the connections we search for our whole lives.
Set in Santa Barbara, the film follows Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening), a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie (newcomer Lucas Jade Zumann, in a breakout performance) at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women in Jamie’s upbringing — via Abbie (Greta Gerwig), a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields’ home, and Julie (Elle Fanning), a savvy and provocative teenage neighbor.
20TH CENTURY WOMEN is a poignant love letter to the people who raise us – and the times that form us – as this makeshift family forges fragile connections that will mystify and inspire them through their lives.
Fathers’ Day was last Sunday, but it’s not too late to enjoy the latest entry in a long line of cinematic father/son stories. Like many other films, this twosome bonds as the son navigates through adulthood and the dad is near the end of his life’s voyage. But this story involves a surprising revelation from pop which sheds a new light on many incidents from their past.
Oliver ( Ewan McGregor ) is a single, thirty something, hang-dog California graphic artist. Besides dwelling on his past failed romantic relationships, he must deal with the home and effects ( including a very cute Jack Russell terrier ) of his recently deceased father, Hal ( Christopher Plummer ). In flashbacks we witness Hal coming out to his son shortly after his wife’s death. Oliver is stunned to hear his seventy-something father declare, “I’m gay.” after decades of marriage. In deeper flashbacks to Oliver’s adolescence we meet his eccentric, non-conformist mother ( Mary Page Keller). In these memories Hal is a faceless, shadowy figure always leaving the house as Mom stares at him with concern. Once he’s single and out of the closet Hal is re-energized. He buys a new wardrobe, places personal ads, joins a men’s choral group, hits the dance clubs, and gets a much younger boyfriend, Andy ( Goran Visnjic ). Unfortunately cancer arrives to curtail his new lust for life. Hal asks Oliver not to tell anyone and becomes more determined to not let the disease keep him from his new interests. In the present day Oliver meets a beautiful French actress, Anna ( Melanie Laurent ) at a party. She’s staying in town for a short time, but wants to act on her attraction to Oliver. As he tries to open up to his new love, Oliver has to put Hal’s estate in order while reflecting on the close bond the two shared in Hal’s final days.
Writer/director Mike Mills has made a very engaging-and personal- film. He’s told interviewers that his own father came out to him. Mills uses lots of interesting visual touches while occasionally veering into whimsically cute territory. The photo montages ( In 1969 this was beauty. This was the president ) are used too frequently and the close-ups of the dog with subtitles expressing his thoughts ( Go after her! ) seem forced. I did not enjoy the scenes of McGregor and his office mates indulging in some late night graffiti. It’s not cool, it’s vandalism. Speaking of McGregor, he does his best to make this mopey artist interesting, but often comes off as whiney and self absorbed. I was looking forward to seeing Laurent ( from INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS ) in an English language role, but she and McGregor generate very little chemistry on screen. Also, Visnjic’s child-like character almost becomes a male bimbo parody.
In spite of my problems with the film I recommend seeing BEGINNERS for the inspired acting by Christopher Plummer. He lights up the screen while portraying Hal’s infectious joy. Hard to believe that he’s been working in movies and television for nearly sixty years. Now past leading man roles, Plummer’s been giving one one supporting character performance after another in the last few years. Let’s hope the members of the Academy remember this great work at the end of the year. He makes you believe that you’re never too old to be a beginner.
Overall Rating: Three and a Half Out of Five Stars
From writer and director Mike Mills (“Thumbsucker”), have a look at the first trailer for BEGINNERS – a comedy/drama about how deeply funny and transformative life can be, even at its most serious moments.
Synopsis:
BEGINNERS imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver (Golden Globe Award nominee Ewan McGregor).
Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna (Mélanie Laurent of “Inglourious Basterds”) only months after his father Hal (Academy Award nominee Christopher Plummer) has passed away. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father who – following 44 years of marriage – came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life.
The upheavals of Hal’s new honesty, by turns funny and moving, brought father and son closer than they’d ever been able to be. Now Oliver endeavors to love Anna with all the bravery, humor, and hope that his father taught him.
From Focus Features, BEGINNERS will be released on June 3, 2011 (select cities).
