"Camon Camon" with Joaquin Phoenix is ​​honest about children. And it's very touching.

In the auteur cinema of 2021-2022, two main trends seem to have emerged: stories about the complex relationships of different generations and a monochrome picture. Of course, one cannot say that this did not happen before, but recently the number of successful, and most importantly, unusual works that correspond to one of these points has been growing. So, Pedro Almodovar releases Parallel Mothers, Francois Ozon directed the film Everything Went Well, Maggie Gyllenhaal made her directorial debut with The Unknown Daughter. Joel Coen has already performed in black and white with The Tragedy of Macbeth. And later, the audience is waiting for "Belfast" by Kenneth Branagh, who falls under both parameters.

The same can be said about the drama "Kamon Kamon", which will reach Russian cinemas on February 17. The picture was directed not by the most famous, though very original director Mike Mills. And the Oscar-winning favorite of the audience, Joaquin Phoenix, played in it. And although the actor plays one of the most sincere and touching roles in recent years, he is not the only and perhaps not the main advantage of the film. After all, Mills, talking about the relationship between children and adults, finally makes the child a full-fledged character. And at the same time, it delivers an emotional story with an almost documentary aesthetic.

Adults and children communicate on equal terms

Radio journalist Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) travels around the United States and interviews young interlocutors, asking them very serious questions: “How do you see yourself in the future? Do you feel lonely? After parting with a girl, the only close person for him is his sister Viv (Gaby Hoffmann), with whom he has not communicated since the death of his mother.

Unexpectedly, she asks Johnny to babysit her nine-year-old son Jesse (Woody Norman): Viv needs to take her husband to the hospital with poor mental health. Johnny agrees, and so begins the communication of two unusual personalities: a closed man and a child with very interesting outlooks on life. Soon the journalist has to go on another business trip to different cities, and he takes Jesse with him.

The journey of a single man and a child in recent years has become such a frequent plot device in genre cinema that at some point it was already fed up. It seems that each of these stories is not bad in itself, but they are united by one problem: almost always a child is just a function for the development of a guardian. Even in the unexpectedly touching Logan, the protagonist at some point is directly told that the girl is just his reflection. And in "The MandalorianThe approach reaches its apotheosis: baby Yoda (it's time to accept that no one will ever call him Grog) simply has no personality.

It may be strange to see film comics mentioned in a review of an author's drama, but they are needed here for a stronger contrast. In Kamon Kamon, Mills does something that is forgotten in most of these stories: he lets the child speak. The duet of Johnny and Jesse in this picture is really an equal partnership of two people. And sometimes it’s even difficult to say which of them moves the plot more. It is the boy who is constantly looking for something new, running forward all the time, while the temporary guardian trudges behind him, talking on the phone in parallel. And even their dialogues look like friends talking: Jessie has her own opinion about everything: life, relationships, even setting the sound in the microphone.

"Camon Camon" delivers a childlike look without condescension or irony (this is partly due to the superb performance of Woody Norman). And in the finale, when Jessie and Johnny will scream out loud, finally managing to throw out the accumulated problems, it will become completely clear that stressful situations for a child are no different from the state adults. It's just that children have a slightly different social status.

And Jesse's voice is not the only one in this story. The very interviews that the journalist takes are no less powerful appeals to parents and the entire older generation. Children of different ages are reminded of simple but important truths that will be useful for anyone to hear.

Moreover, Mills is moving away from standard plot and emotional devices with all his might. In Johnny, of course, paternal instinct will manifest itself, but this can hardly be called the center of the story. Yes, and in the supposedly background line of Viv, the author directly speaks of the fatigue of mothers from upbringing (and here again we can recall the “Strange Daughter”, built on this idea).

But at the same time, the director managed to make almost the most honest movie about relationships with children. In it, you can even notice an ironic rebuke to all sorts of coaches who explain how to communicate with a child. After all, it would seem that talking to people of all ages is Johnny's profession. But when he encounters this in ordinary life, it turns out that the child does not follow the prescribed scenarios and may simply not answer questions. Because he is a person, not a function.

The director and actors are completely sincere

Many representatives of auteur cinema at some point in their lives release a film based on own biography: from Tarkovsky's "Mirror" and Bergman's "Fanny and Alexander" to the recent "God's Hand" by Paolo Sorrentino. Although there is Leos Carax and Woody Allenwho have been doing this all their creative lives.

Mike Mills is closer to the latter. That's just he talks more often not about himself, but about his loved ones. The film "Beginners" with Christopher Plummer was dedicated to his father, "Women of the 20th Century" - about Mills' wife. "Kamon Kamon" - a message to his son, the same age as the screen hero. That is why in the picture, especially in the finale, such a touching sincerity is felt. There, a journalist records a message for his young friend, saying that he will surely forget a small moment from his childhood. And this moment is a clear parallel between the hero and his creator.

Partly because of this, Kamon Kamon sometimes feels almost like a documentary. Even the interviews that the hero takes from children are real. The answers were not written in the script, Joaquin Phoenix just asking questions.

The actor, by the way, appears here in one of his most unusual images in recent years. He is often called a master of reincarnation, and even more than Christian Bale: he not only changes his body, but also emotionally completely immerses himself in the role. The image of Johnny is unusual just because Phoenix does not seem to play at all. He looks as natural as possible, about the same as he comes to the interview: melancholic and slightly closed. Moreover, in 2020 he became a father for the first time. The son, by the way, was named River - in honor of the late older brother Joaquin, who partly encouraged him to become an actor. So the new picture can be considered a confession not only of the director, but also of the leading actor.

The film "Kamon Kamon" is shot very gracefully

The staging of the shot itself makes the film more like a documentary than a drama. Often the focus is on shooting different cities, allowing characters to wander along the street or beach for a long time and record various industrial noises - another manifestation of the curiosity of a child who discovers the world sounds. The camera shoots statically, unlike the traditional author's cinema with perpetual motion. As if Mills really wants to capture some moments, like a frame on a film, and not a dynamic scene.

This helps the director monochrome color spectrum. It has an oddly retro feel to it, even though it's set in the present day. It may seem that all this is the memories of the protagonist. And, perhaps, a boy who has already grown up, who has not forgotten the story that happened to him.

“Kamon Kamon” is another film that proves that auteur cinema can be understood by literally everyone. The picture was released by the A24 studio, which in recent years has already become a quality mark for unusual works. And the participation of Joaquin Phoenix will provide Mills' film with the attention of the audience. And for sure, for most, this short journey with the heroes will turn out to be a very pleasant and warm experience, to which you will want to return more than once.