Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: CMON CMON [Denver Film Festival 2021]

Watching Joaquin Phoenix play a journalist of sorts interviewing other people is an interesting irony since he does not like being interviewed himself and having people perhaps looking into the perception of what he does. This journalist has interviewed him on occasion from the simply avoidance of the process question ("Walk The Line") to almost self reverential before retreating ("Reservation Road"). With his Oscar for "Joker", there is a whole new approach in that it examined mental health even more but within a different construct. What is interesting about his new film "Cmon Cmon", which was shot in 2 months it seems right before lockdown happened in late 2019/early 2020 is that examines mental health with his character watching from the outside. It is in a way the most exposed emotionally Phoenix has been in a while and his main co-star is a child in Woody Norman doesn't let him relax. The film is not necessarily at all an easy watch as it shows how a mental health problem can rip a family apart in a way.

Phoenix is playing a journalist that goes to different cities recording interviews on audio for supposedly a program about the immigrant experience but also youth perceptions of the future and how it reflects in their eyes. It is an interesting psychological construct but the reality of what job Phoenix's character Johnny is actually doing is very very vague. It simply moves to set up that he is asked to take care of his nephew when his sister Viv (Gaby Hoffman) has to go help take care of her husband who has some sort of mental issues/breakdown (it is very vague as to what it exactly is). But again her ability to just take care of her husband without any texture of a job or work is also very vague. These issues sometimes take away from what might have created the film's grounded-ness.

There is a distance between the siblings of Viv & Johnny seemingly caused by the sickness and eventual death of their mother which seems to have been a dividing point. And then Phoenix's character apparently got in the middle of Viv and her husband's personal business somehow. Again it is left vague which doesn't help the emotional connectiveness at times. All of this serves specifically to place Phoenix's Johnny and Norman's Jesse together. Norman's character tests Johnny like he tests his mother. Now whether he inherit any of his father's illness, any of his own or if he is just a kid perhaps on the spectrum is never quite clear. But watching Phoenix try to extrapolate is a very interesting exercise and one obviously that was of interest to him and reflects in a way the idea of connection and fatherhood in a way that he is now experiencing in real life.

"Cmon Cmon" is done in a very vulnerable almost verite style so there is nothing really to hide behind. Granted the interviews Johnny does serve as a voice over of sorts but the way Norman pushes Phoenix as a performer is interesting because, since he is known for being a moody actor, this requires Phoenix to give up a lot of control. The result as far as performance is textured and beautiful. It shows many facets but is it the result of Norman's almost un-actorly approach? In this way, it is unknown how much of the aspects were inherently finely scripted or otherwise allowed to breathe. The black and white photography really pops the imagery especially in NY where the isolation and connection (especially when Johnny loses Jesse a couple times per se) is based in a child psychology where it is all about how things are said but also the interpretation from a still forming mind. "Cmon Cmon" is another great performance in a different direction by Phoenix as well as Norman with some great cinematography and mood...yet the construct of the film despite its need to feel a little loose gives a less grounded feel in terms of structured reality than it should. B+

By Tim Wassberg