Keswick Film Club - Reviews - C'mon C'mon

As a lifetime fan of Janis Joplin, C'mon C'mon reminded me of an intro she did to 'Try (Just a little bit harder)' where she tells the audience that the song "could almost be called... 'life', man...but I wouldn't heavy up on anybody like that". Joaquin Phoenix, as Johnny, pretty much covered all the problems and the beauty of the world... though he wasn't trying to.

Johnny is a reporter who is travelling around the USA interviewing young people to see what they think about the future. Interspersed with the interviews, we see his own problems – his partner has left him, his mother has died, and he has fallen out with his sister – and he takes on his sister's 9-year-old Jesse who has problems of his own. Between all these people and towns, plus some quotes from book he reads to his recorder, Johnny managed to describe some very thought-provoking stuff, from childcare to war, from women's rights to mental health.

All this was filmed at a beautiful slow pace and in black and white; the acting was superb (Woody Norman who played Jesse was amazing) and the script put together really well. The different towns all had a feeling of their own which made them seem like characters in their own right... all-round good movie for me, then!