Director Mike Mills knows you’re afraid ‘C’mon C’mon’ will be schmaltzy

Mike Mills can’t halt crying.

And you won’t either erstwhile watching the director’s latest release, “C’mon C’mon,” opening Nov. 24 successful theaters.

Mills’ 4th full-length diagnostic is poised to interruption hearts with its gentle, idiosyncratic communicative astir a saccharine but clueless uncle (Joaquin Phoenix) bonding with his precious Los Angeles nephew (Woody Norman). It makes an perfect cinematic centerpiece for Thanksgiving.

What’s prompting Mills to mist up this time is remembering events from the nighttime earlier erstwhile “C’mon C’mon” was shown to an existent assemblage successful an existent theater. It was the Centerpiece enactment successful this October’s Mill Valley Film Festival.

“It’s truly affectional to beryllium successful a country with people,” said Mills, who edited the A24 Films during the heavy of COVID-19. “I’m similar a blistery mess. Films are truthful babelike connected audiences. When I edited the movie, I ne'er saw it erstwhile with different person.”

He considers movies a communal acquisition — truthful overmuch so, that a movie seen successful isolation “is, like, dead.”

Shot successful B&W,  “C’mon C’mon” takes a thimble of a communicative — a azygous vigor writer Johnny (Phoenix) becomes a de facto genitor for his curious, spirited nephew (Norman) portion his sister (Gabby Hoffmann) tends to the boy’s father’s (Scoot McNairy) aft helium suffers a breakdown successful Oakland — and past fine-tunes it into a thoughtful meditation connected acceptance, knowing and the value of listening. That past portion is reflected successful Johnny’s latest journalistic assignment, interviewing young adults astir life, dreams and themselves.

“C’mon C’mon” is quintessential Mills, different relatable diagnostic wherein a household dynamic gets reshuffled and past redefined. That taxable sounded powerfully successful his 2010 grant victor “Beginners,” wherein a begetter (the precocious Christopher Plummer, who won an Oscar for his performance)  comes retired arsenic cheery precocious successful life. Ditto 2016’s “20th Century Women,” a feminist play with Annette Bening astir a lad raised successful ‘70s Southern California by the beardown females astir him.

As successful those films, “C’mon C’mon” comes from the talented director’s bosom and his ain experiences, this clip arsenic a dad.

He is keenly alert that much cynical filmgoers mightiness not beryllium won implicit by “C’mon C’mon.”

“I’m definite determination volition beryllium a batch of radical who volition beryllium disgusted,” helium said. “Even successful my friends’ community, they were like, ‘Eh that’s a small excessively syrupy for me.’”

The 55-year-old, whose archetypal diagnostic was 2005’s “Thumbsucker,” finds making movies to beryllium pugnacious work.

“It takes similar 5 years of my beingness and it’s specified a brainsick opportunity,” helium says. “It’s specified a brainsick privilege to person that space, beryllium connected that stage. So my mode of dealing with it is to enactment each the chips you person connected the table, immoderate you have, your experience, your champion stake to share. I’m ever successful that occupation zone.”

“C’mon C’mon” avoids drowning successful schmaltz acknowledgment to the cast, peculiarly Phoenix, who gives 1 of the astir kind-hearted performances of his career, a acold outcry from his Oscar-winning enactment arsenic the Joker.

“Joaquin was large astir cutting against it a lot,” helium recalls. He besides credits his ain determination to sprout successful achromatic and achromatic “so arsenic not to beryllium excessively gooey” and went with wide shots alternatively of closeups connected the expressive Norman. Also, Phoenix and Norman didn’t rehearse together; their archetypal gathering was erstwhile they started filming together.

Mills praises Phoenix — whom helium regards arsenic the “best helper, person and comrade” helium could person asked for — and took it to bosom erstwhile the histrion told him “you privation radical to person that emotion, but you’re pointing excessively hard astatine it.”

“He engaged with maine similar that,’ says Mills. “He was similar idiosyncratic who said, ‘You cognize you’re astir to marque a mistake.’”

Even though Phoenix isn’t wide regarded arsenic the go-to histrion erstwhile you’re making a heart-warmer, helium was Mills’ archetypal prime to play Johnny.

“It’s similar dating. It’s similar you spot idiosyncratic from crossed the room. I person the hots for you and I don’t truly cognize wherefore and I’m conscionable going to hazard going implicit determination and spot if it works retired and person a connection. That’s truly however it is. You person a vibe.”

Mills says Phoenix comes crossed arsenic highly intelligent and “subversive successful a large way.”

Finding a “dumb, consecutive achromatic dude” isn’t excessively hard, Mills says. “It’s similar a commercialized trope, a monetized trope. And the satellite is plentifulness afloat of them. Sensitive White men don’t request that overmuch assistance successful the world. But if I’m going to marque 1 connected screen, I privation him to beryllium idiosyncratic who’s been successful therapy and idiosyncratic who isn’t a nonaccomplishment and idiosyncratic who has problems.”

But Phoenix didn’t leap connected committee from the start.

They met for lunch, shared a fewer laughs and past the bombshell dropped.

“Basically, helium came to the luncheon to beryllium truly bully and archer maine my publication was truly absorbing but I don’t deliberation I tin bash it.”

They continued to talk, and yet helium signed on, uniting with a formed that besides includes vigor writer and histrion Molly Webster and Jaboukie Young-White, amongst others. Sometimes the formed got on excessively well, peculiarly Phoenix and Hoffmann.

“When they get unneurotic they cannot halt talking,” Mills said. “They get into hysterical arguments and they marque each different laughter a lot. It’s benignant of distracting connected set. (I’d say): ‘Guys we’re rolling.’ There was a batch of that.”

Mills didn’t caput though.

“You privation the actors to not beryllium obedient,” helium said. “You privation to beryllium filming them being disobedient.”

Contact Randy Myers astatine soitsrandy@gmail.com.