C’mon C’mon (2021)

Gaby Hoffmann must help her ex-husband Scoot McNairy who is suffering from a manic episode, so she calls her semi-estranged brother Joaquin Phoenix to care for her nine year old son. The two males get to know from each other while Phoenix travels around the country interviewing kids for his job as a journalist. It tenderly encapsulates the tentativeness of any new relationship with the missteps and lessons learned. It’s striking that while Phoenix spends his work hours talking to children, he didn’t seem to really understand them until living with his nephew. While the focus is on male bonding, motherhood isn’t short-changed as Hoffmann, even from a distance, is guiding and holding it all together.