Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Woody Norman, Gaby Hoffmann, Scoot McNairy
Distributor: Transmission Films
Runtime: 110 mins. Reviewed in Feb 2022
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan
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This American, black-and-white drama stars Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny – a man, who bonds with his young nephew, Jesse, to help his sister. They travel together through the US together, rediscovering themselves. The drama is honestly delivered, and powerfully acted and directed.
Johnny (Phoenix) is a professional audio journalist, who works on a project that has him interviewing young people about their lives and their thoughts on the world’s uncertain future. To complete the project, he undertakes a cross-country trip, accompanied by his 9-year-old nephew, Jesse (Norman). Viv (Hoffmann) has asked Johnny to care for Jesse while she cares for Jesse’s father (McNairy), who is mentally ill with a bipolar disorder.
Jesse is not an easy child. He is cheeky, over-stimulating and over-stimulated, prone to temper tantrums, but bright, highly verbal, precocious, and endearing. Under work pressures, Johnny asks Viv whether he can take Jesse back with him to New York City (NYC). On the trip across to NYC, Jesse gets on Johnny’s nerves and he becomes angry, and Jesse is scared. They make up. Jesse becomes homesick, but the prospect of returning home causes him to fear breaking the affectionate bond that he has established with Johnny. Viv arrives to take Jesse back to Los Angeles, and the film concludes by Johnny recording his experience of the trip for Jesse.
Johnny wants to show Jesse what life is like away from Los Angeles, and Jesse is eager to do that, and responds to the stimulation that NYC offers. The interactions, and verbal exchanges between Johnny and Jesse are totally realistic, and the direction and scripting of the film are such that viewer seems to be almost ‘eavesdropping’ on what happens between them. It seems impossible to contemplate that their verbal exchanges have been scripted, so natural are Johnny and Jesse when they talk and interact together. Stunning photography with clever framing, and probing scripting highlight the emotional power of what Johnny and Jesse share.
The film was rated as one of the top 10 Independent films of 2021 by the National Board of Review, and received awards in 2021 for a best Original Screenplay, and Best Youth Performance by Norman. It is a stellar acting achievement for Phoenix as much as it is for Norman. Phoenix transformed the character of the ‘Joker’ in the 2019 crime drama film of the same name, and he is widely regarded as delivering the best film-acting performance of 2013 in Spike Jonze’s superb movie Her. Johnny is not the parent of Jesse, but the film communicates a great deal about child-rearing and how to be a good, loving parent. It brilliantly nails the joys, the ups-and-downs, and the confusions that can accompany modern parenting.
The film is a particularly sensitive account of the joys and tribulations of an adult male caring for a young boy, as a father would for his own child, and a child’s response to ‘being looked after’. It tugs at the heart strings, but it is poignant, spontaneous, and emotionally moving, and full of affectionate moments between two human beings (adult and child), who become bonded to each other, and who expose their vulnerability to each other. This is an intuitive movie that is fearlessly committed to honesty, and it asks the viewer to reflect thoughtfully on what being human and a good parent means, as it engenders its insights. The film’s credits record the reactions of youth to what the future might mean, indicating that Johnny’s project (that integrates the film) is not simulated, but real. This is an extraordinary movie that stimulates and intrigues at many levels.
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