It’s his first strip after the “Joker” Oscar. In “Come on, Come on” Joaquin Phoenix goes on a journey as an uncle with his nephew.
US star Joaquin Phoenix (47, “Walk the Line”) returns to cinema audiences after his Oscar for the title role in the comic adaptation “Joker” (2019) with “Come on, Come on”. The black-and-white film by director Mike Mills (56) is a mixture of drama and road movie and in pretty much every area a stark contrast to the glaring story about the irritable, short-tempered loner Arthur Fleck (Joker) in Gotham City.
What is “Come on, Come on” about?
The New York radio journalist Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix), who is single again after a long relationship, is working on a report for which he asks young people in the USA about their dreams, fears and hopes for the future. But after a phone call with his sister Viv (Gaby Hoffmann, 40), he unexpectedly has to take care of their nine-year-old son Jesse (Woody Norman, born 2009) in California.
For the first time, completely unprepared and literally overnight, Johnny is exposed to the topic of parenthood and the responsibilities that come with it. He has to learn everything that anyone who has a child has to learn, just very, very quickly. The situation is also new for the bright, sometimes not childlike and yet very sensitive Jesse, because he has been separated from his mother for a long time for the first time.
In addition, Johnny and Viv had little contact after he interfered in her marriage to the mentally ill musician Paul (Scoot McNairy, 44) – Jesse’s father. And so uncle and nephew don’t really know each other at the beginning of the film. But because the circumstances demand it and Johnny has to finish his radio project, the two embark on a road trip across the USA together…
Woody Norman and Gaby Hoffmann play Joaquin Phoenix almost on the wall
Joaquin Phoenix is certainly the biggest lure for this film – and he lives up to expectations. The viewers will be surprised above all by the British child actor Woody Norman, who plays the role of the “strange” Jesse incredibly well. Every word, every action seems extraordinarily natural and completely spontaneous.
It gets really funny when Johnny and Jesse argue about singing toothbrushes, washing their hair or the truth. Or when Johnny tries his luck at raising Jesse with the help of a counselor, and the boy dryly remarks that his mother is better at making it look like she doesn’t read it.
The characters and relationships in “Come on, Come on” are authentically drawn, as is Gaby Hoffmann’s Viv. She is a woman, mother and wife who has worked hard to maintain an intellectual and spiritual life beyond the confines of motherhood and caring for her son and the boy’s sometimes runaway father. The rediscovery of the closeness between brother and sister adds another touching level.
A black and white film with interview snippets
“Come on, Come on” was shot as a black and white film. In addition to the US director’s soft spot for this film material, there is another reason for this: “It is intimate, but also leaves more leeway, takes the characters out of time, distances us from everyday life and almost turns the pictures into drawings”, Mike Mills explains his decision.
Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan (b. 1970) makes another point: “Because it’s a road movie, I think black and white helps give a certain consistency to the different locations.” The film takes place in four very different US cities: Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and New Orleans.
And it has another special feature: Between the game scenes of the protagonists, short interview sequences with very real children and young people for Johnny’s film project can be seen again and again. They have a documentary effect and raise big questions, amazing answers and unexpected thoughts of this generation.
Conclusion
The film tells of complex family relationships and the great challenge of being a parent. Because there is no real guide to doing this, everyone is a beginner again with all the uncertainty in each new phase of the child. In this context, the film also poses the question of caregivers and their roles in the lives of children and young people. Must, should and may it always be mother and father or can other people also provide important and good impulses?
But children and young people also get a clearly audible voice in the strip. On the one hand through the short interviews, on the other hand through Jesse’s life story, which is shaped by how he dealt with his father’s mental illness. The film impressively shows how important time off is for relatives and especially for children. And so one of the most touching moments is when Jesse asks his uncle if he will be like his father…
“Come on, Come on” is a philosophical, inspiring, beautiful and lively film with fabulous actors in lovingly created scenes – which might have been even more powerful in color.
“Come on, Come on” starts in cinemas on March 24th.