A man and a child sit at a table in a restaurant, giving each other a high five.
Screenings
Part of the series CANCELED: MoMA Contenders 2021

CANCELED: C’mon C’mon, with Mike Mills

  • This is a past program
This program has been canceled.

Screening followed by Q&A with Mike Mills

Johnny (Joaquin Phoenix) is a melancholy radio journalist traveling to American cities to record teenagers talking about the future. His solitary routine is suddenly interrupted when he must care for his precocious eight-year-old nephew Jesse (a revelatory Woody Norman) while his sister Viv (Gaby Hoffman) supports Jesse’s father in the midst of a depressive episode. “When you think about the future, how do you imagine it will be?” Johnny asks his interview subjects, and now he and Jesse must answer that for themselves as they forge a deep bond and confront the pain and beauty of being alive. Director Mike Mills, who always leads with empathy, offers a balm for our times, as Robbie Ryan’s black-and-white cinematography beautifully renders American cities as vessels of hope for the future. (Courtesy of A24)

(2021, dir. Mike Mills, black & white, 108 min.)

This film program is organized by Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, and Sean Egan, Producer, Film Exhibitions and Special Projects, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
 
The Hammer Museum's presentation is made possible by The Billy and Audrey L. Wilder Foundation.