‘C’mon C’mon’: Joaquin Phoenix Shines & Empathy Flows In Mike Mills’ Sublime, Micro-Traumatic Family Drama [Telluride Review]
Having already excavated his personal experiences to tell intimate, insightful, and emotionally translucent stories about fathers and sons (“Beginners”), matriarchs raising boys (“20th Century Women”), and the way we’re all amateurs fumbling through life, sensitively attuned writer/director Mike Mills turns his tender filmmaking gaze towards children and the adult/child relationship in his latest film, the sublime “Cmon Cmon.” It’s yet another perceptive, impeccably crafted winner in an informal trilogy about family, what makes us human, and how people struggle every day to do their best amidst the many challenges and pains of life.