It was Mark Twain who said, "Write what you know," and writer-director Mike Mills has certainly taken Twain's sage advice to heart. BEGINNERS (2010) was about his father; 20th CENTURY WOMEN (2016) was about his mother, and now C'MON C'MON (opening Friday in the Starlight), serves as a springboard for his own experiences as a father.
And it's likely a holdover from years of reading Pauline Kael's film criticism in The New Yorker, but I still do a double take when that venerable magazine publishes a glowing review. I submit to you an excerpt from Richard Brody's highly glowing review of C'MON C'MON. "C'mon C'mon is a tender and turbulent melodrama that amplifies its power with a documentary current. The result is a film of an extraordinary amplitude; it's both poised and frenetic, contemplative and active, heartily sentimental and astringently contentious, intensely intimate and expansively world-embracing, exactingly composed and wildly spontaneous. What's more, it brings not only its characters but its cast into the cinematic maelstrom of inner life, and thus offers an extraordinary showcase for their artistry...C'mon C'mon is itself a tribute to the vast and vital power of memory, the continuity provided by family ties, and the essential nature of the cinema in gathering and transmitting the stuff of life." Wow! Mr. Brody is not alone in his appreciation, as the movie rates a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffman, and new-comer Woody Norman as Jesse.
As promised, PAPER & GLUE returns this Friday for another five days. This little gem from French artist JR is definitely worth seeing. JR challenges perspectives and unites communities with his art. "A handsome documentary." -The New York Times
"Expertly wrought, finely produced, and performed with genuine show-biz verve." -Vulture. Our live simulcast of EURYDICE from the Metropolitan Opera begins this Saturday at 9:55 a.m.
Cinematically yours,
Rocky