The black-and-white drama film has been strongly critically acclaimed in the past couple of months. Focusing on a radio journalist who babysits his nephew on a cross-country trip, the film establishes the importance of the relationship between the two while interviewing kids around the world on how they see their future.
The interview with the kids that are shown throughout the film are actually unscripted and are real kids, not actors. Some of the things they have mentioned about the future resonate with the hearts of many people because they touched issues on climate change, domestic issues, and more. The eyes of the children resemble the hopes and dreams they have living in America, but it would soon be blackened by entering the real world. The children were not influenced by someone to share their truthful answers. Like the nephew, Jesse, the children are highly aware of their environment, though they do not know how things will turn out as they grow up.
Jesse’s father suffers from bipolar disorder. Johnny, the radiologist and protagonist, had to take care of Jesse while his sister and her husband figured out this situation in the hospital. When Jesse volunteers to help Johnny record sound in his home in Los Angeles, he is amazed by the resting padding of the ocean and people chattering in the distance. He faces adult decisions when listening to the interviews with the kids who speak about their grim future that their parents left behind them.
For Johnny who often contains his emotions inside his heart, Jesse is rather wise. His silliness is what drives Johnny to open himself to Jesse. At home, Jesse makes up an imaginary story where he is an orphan and he wants to speak with his mom who is in charge of the orphanage. Twisted as Johnny believes, it is one of the ways that Jesse relieves steam because he is facing real world challenges.
Johnny is played by Joaquin Phoenix. The audiences have highly appraised Joaquin for his emotional work in this film because the previous characters he had performed are rather abrasive and strong. This provided a softer, yet emotional touch to his acting career.
