Movie Review: C’mon, C’mon

So I first heard of this movie because I am subscribed to the A24 films email list, and when they come out with a new movie they share a trailer in the email. I came across this trailer for C’mon, C’mon, and it was so heartfelt that I wanted to watch it. Thankfully, I found it at the library a couple of days ago and checked it out. The film is shot in black and white, similar to Frances Ha, another film that was also shot in black and white. Also, I love the new Lionsgate Films theme song (it’s a random and small detail, but I have started getting into film music and after watching all these movies to write these reviews I have started falling in love with theme music.). I love the old one too, but I also love this one.

The movie opens in Detroit, Michigan, and a man named Johnny is interviewing young people about their lives and what they think about social issues and the future. Some of the kids talk about how they are worried about climate change, others worry about loneliness. One of the youth they interview talks about how people make all these assumptions about Detroit but she tells them that they have never lived in the city, and she has lived there her entire life. Some kids talk about how they are anxious about the future, some are hopeful. Johnny is also taking care of his aging mother with his sister, Viv, and both of them argue about the challenges of taking care of her. Viv is married to Paul, who recently got a new position with the San Francisco Symphony and moved to Oakland, but is finding the transition challenging. Viv is left to take care of their son, Jesse, who is sensitive and is, like so many other youth, trying to make sense of the world. Johnny visits Viv and Jesse and spends time with them, and Viv has Johnny watch Jesse while she is taking care of Paul. Over the course of the film, Johnny and Jesse strike up a beautiful and profound friendship.

One of the main themes of the film is the connections between children and adults. Johnny’s work involves interviewing kids about serious issues and getting them to think about what they envision for the future, to give them a platform to have their voices heard. At the same time, he is also navigating his relationship with Jesse, who isn’t as open at first to talking about his feelings with Johnny. Jesse ends up interviewing Johnny about his life. In one scene, Johnny is reading The Wizard of Oz to Jesse to put him to sleep, and Jesse interrupts him by asking why he isn’t married. Johnny pauses, wondering whether he should tell Jesse, but he tells him what happened in a way that Jesse will understand. Jesse also develops a deep friendship with Johnny, especially because they are not around Viv so Johnny allows Jesse to behave in ways Viv probably wouldn’t want him to. When Johnny takes Jesse to a restaurant with Roxanne and Fernando, the people who conduct the interviews with him, Jesse tries eating his ice cream before he finishes his dinner but Johnny tells him to eat his dinner before eating dessert. Jesse stays up late at night because he has had a lot of sugar from the ice cream, and gets upset with Johnny for letting him eat the ice cream since his mom wouldn’t let him have all that sugar. When they are in the convenience store, Jesse finds a toothbrush that lights up and sings, but Johnny tells him he cannot have it. Jesse ends up getting lost in the store and Johnny freaks out because he doesn’t know where he is, and asks everyone in the store where Jesse is. Jesse finally runs into him with the singing toothbrush and busts up laughing and making fun of Johnny, and Johnny raises his voice at him, telling him to stop, but Jesse yells at him right back. When Johnny calls Viv, she tells him that she hates it when Jesse doesn’t do what she says, and when she finds out Johnny let him have ice cream and that Jesse is overstimulated, she tells him she loves Jesse even when does things that annoy her, such as talking about random stuff all the time. I think I related a lot to this because I was a teacher at a daycare and honestly I wasn’t that great of a teacher. My first day I thought, Oh these kids are so cute, and I loved reading books to them, but I had such a hard time controlling the class. When kids would get into fights over toys or a kid would randomly start lashing out at me, I wouldn’t tell them to stop. I often let the more experienced teachers step in because I feared making the kids cry if I yelled at them or told them to stop hitting each other or doing things they weren’t supposed to. I’m sure that I shouldn’t let that one experience prevent me from pursuing a teaching career or being a substitute teacher if I ever need another job, especially because it was a long time ago, but what that experience taught me is that teachers deserve all the respect. Looking back, I probably would have read up on books related to teaching and interacting with toddlers just so I knew how to handle certain situations with more calm.

The interviews also take place in other cities: Los Angeles, New York City, and New Orleans. Jesse and Viv live in Los Angeles, and when Johnny is visiting them in Los Angeles, he shows Jesse his recording equipment and has Jesse wear it and test it out while they are walking along the beach. When they are sitting on the sand, Johnny asks Jesse if he has been to New York City, and Jesse tells him he hasn’t been before. Johnny says he should come with him to help him record his interviews, and Jesse agrees. However, when Johnny tells Viv that he invited Jesse to New York City, Viv is upset because Johnny should have gotten her permission before asking Jesse to come since she is his mom. When they are in New York, Johnny, Roxanne and Fern interview children of immigrant families, and they discuss many different topics: climate change, loneliness, vulnerability, bias and discrimination and isolation. One of the interviews that was really powerful was one of the kids saying that when he expressed to his parents that he felt like crying sometimes, they tell him he shouldn’t cry and that he needs to be strong. After reading Brene Brown’s books on shame resilience and vulnerability, I have been getting really interested in the subject of vulnerability, especially when dealing with my own emotional health and learning to communicate my feelings better.

There is one scene that also conveys the power of vulnerability. When Johnny and Jesse are in New Orleans, Viv calls Johnny and tells him that her husband, Paul, is recovering after being taken to a mental health facility for treatment and that Jesse can come home. When Johnny tries to put Jesse on the phone, Jesse listens as Viv tells him she is bringing him home, but then he tells Johnny he is done talking to his mom and runs off. He is upset because he has had to watch his father’s nervous breakdowns for so long and his mom not knowing how to deal with them, and after spending time with Johnny and feeling free, he doesn’t want to come back to his family. When Johnny catches up with him, he tells Jesse it is fine to not feel fine, but Jesse tells him to leave him alone and that he is fine. Jesse reiterates that it is okay to not feel okay, but Jesse yells that he is fine. Finally Johnny yells at him and tells him that it is okay to scream and feel angry, and Jesse finally gives in and yells that he is not fine. He and Johnny both kick and stomp the ground angrily, and then Jesse feels better. Johnny tells Jesse that he is better at communicating his feelings than he was before.

I really like this film because it reminds me of how important it is to give young people a chance to speak out on social issues and give them a voice. When I was younger I watched a commercial that the Ad Council did on global warming, and one of the commercials featured various kids saying “Tick, tick, tick” over and over while talking about the effects of climate change. It gave me goosebumps. There was another commercial where an older gentleman is standing on a train track and there is a train coming and he says that some say the irreversible consequences of global warming are far into the future, but that in thirty years it won’t affect him, and when he steps aside there is a young girl standing in front of the train as it approaches her. (we don’t see her get hit, but she just looks into the camera with this pained expression like “You adults failed us.”) I also thought about Greta Thunberg and so many other young people who are fighting against climate change, and about the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida protesting gun violence. I read a lot of philosophy by a writer and philosopher named Daisaku Ikeda and in his writings he talks about raising successors, or young people to promote a society based on respect for the dignity of each person’s life, which is what my Buddhist practice is based on. In our monthly publication, Living Buddhism, there is an article about fostering successors, and in our organization we have a group for elementary, middle and high school-aged youth called the Future Division. We encourage the youth to use their Buddhist practice of chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, studying the writings of Daisaku Ikeda and The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, and participating in SGI activities so they can bring forth the potential to overcome challenges in their daily lives and become happy. I feel like whenever I encourage the youth in my organization, I become happier and gain greater hope for the future. When I was watching the film, I kept thinking about the Future Division in our Buddhist organization.

Also, Johnny’s project of interviewing the youth reminded me of when we had a festival called 50,000 Lions of Justice, and to promote the festival they had promo videos where passerby in different cities such as Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago were asked about something courageous they did and social issues they thought were most important. Watching these videos gave me hope for the future and empowered me to overcome my apathy and anxiety about the future. This is one of the videos I really loved: