New Joaquin Phoenix film a blend of scripted and unscripted

“C’mon C’mon,” written and directed by Mike Mills, is a new-ish, black-and-white indie film starring Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny, a single man who becomes the temporary caregiver of his nine-year-old nephew.

Part family drama, part road trip movie, "C’mon C’mon" encapsulates the entire experience of raising a child without cutting out the hard parts, the weird parts, and the vulnerable emotional journey of adults trying to figure it out in the moment.

Johnny, an NPR-like radio journalist, is simultaneously traveling across the country interviewing kids about how they view life and the future, only now with a rambunctious and inquisitive child in tow. What’s especially cool is that we see Joaquin Phoenix legitimately interview kids, hearing their genuine, unscripted responses to questions that reveal their perspectives on life as kids.

While giving us the thoughts of children in their own voices, the film also voices the complicated experience that people raising children go through. Parents are not superheroes with the capacity for limitless stamina and mind reading powers. They are just people doing their very best to figure weird stuff out, especially when their kids enjoy love make-believing they’re a lost orphan looking for new parents, like in the case of young Jesse.

Ultimately “C’mon C’mon” doesn’t seek to provide life-changing revelations on how to parent, but to simply and beautifully show the process, to remind us of all the little things in life and how all of it, the weird, the sad, the terrifying is all part of living fully.

'C’mon, C’mon’ is available as pay-per-view on Amazon Prime.