C’MON C’MON Trailer

The big choices in life are examined in C’mon C’mon, the latest from writer/director Mike Mills.

The film revolves around the relationship between Johnny and Jesse, uncle and nephew who are thrust together when Jesse’s mother must go out of town to care for her ex-husband. Johnny is a bit busy with his radio job when he got the news, traveling around recording for a new piece, so Jesse must hop on the road with him. The two aren’t close, so the sudden time together, along with the existential questions Johnny is running around asking people, triggers a contemplative look back at Johnny’s life.

The film keeps the familial examination for going for Mills, who is coming off the knockout pair of films about his parents, Beginners and 20th Century Women. Both of those films march to the beat of their own drum to find genuine pathos, the latter being more a series of vignettes than a narrative and the former funneling a surprising amount of emotion through a dog, so it’s hardly surprising that C’mon C’mon, with its black-and-white photography and promised meandering narrative, isn’t taking the obvious routes.

His two preceding films also relied on excellent turns from its lead actors, and one expects much the same from Joaquin Phoenix here as Johnny. Child actor Woody Norman as Jesse is obviously more of a wildcard, but reviews from the film’s festival run indicates that he holds his own and the film overall reaches the heights we’ve come to expect from Mills.

C’mon C’mon is directed by Mike Mills and stars Joaquin Phoenix, Woody Norman, and Gaby Hoffmann. It will be released in the US on November 19th, 2021 and in the UK on December 3rd, 2021. For international release dates, click here.

Will you ride along on this road trip? Let us know in the comments!