Summary
We all need to find connection, especially over the last year, and at its corazón this is what this charming spin on the ‘lockdown film’ manages to do.
If history needs a creative record of what will one day be known as the COVID era, then the ‘screenlife’ film might be the leading contender. Made on the sly during the pandemic, director Natalie Morales and collaborator Mark Duplass have combined their indie powers to make something uniquely affecting.
While it would be criminal to reveal too much of the film’s loose plotting, it is essentially structured around a series of video and audio calls between Spanish teacher Cariña (Morales), who has been secretly hired by Will to give lessons to his husband Adam (Duplass).
What unfolds is the narratively simple yet emotionally complex story of two people coming to know each other through conversation. Over the last year, this has been the primary way people have communicated with each other. Although it’s an oft-repeated line that Coronavirus has stopped the world, life has plodded along with warts an all. We’ve seen the homes of our work colleagues for the first time, heard their children and pets in the background and often still can’t remember to switch mute on or off in a group chat.
“Is that the narrative you’ve created?”
While it’s not the first Zoom/phone based drama, and it certainly won’t be the last, this film might be the most heartfelt. Where the pre-Covid Searching (2018) used it for dramatic effect, and Nakata Hideo’s Remote de Korosareru (2020) transplanted horror tropes into the form, LANGUAGE LESSONS removes the barrier of physicality to let these characters reveal vulnerabilities to each other in a safe environment.
As a textbook two-hander, switching seamlessly back and forth between Spanish and English, the film relies on Morales and Duplass entirely. Having worked together previously on HBO’s Room 104, here they allow themselves to be seen at their most raw. There’s a wonderful scene following a dramatic pivot where the laptop camera allows us to watch Adam come to terms with events in real time. Later, Cariña accidentally reveals more about herself than she wanted and immediately puts her emotional guard back up.
Largely shot from the point of view of phone and computer cameras, Morales and cinematographer Jeremy Mackie manage to make this more than just a static series of screens. Whether intentionally or not, the picture occasionally buffers, characters choose to have their camera off and the two make the most of the portability of phone cameras. It also really helps that Mark Duplass and spouse Katie Aselton’s gorgeous Silver Lake home forms the backdrop for at least half of the screen-time.
This could have easily been unwatchable, especially if you’ve spent the day on conference calls, but this is a film that manages to catch you with your guard down. Filled with genuine surprises and emotional turns, this is one video call where you won’t want to have a sneaky browser open.
2021 | USA | DIRECTOR: Natalie Morales | WRITER: Mark Duplass, Natalie Morales| CAST: Mark Duplass, Natalie Morales | DISTRIBUTOR: Berlinale 2021, SXSW 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 91 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 1-5 March 2021 (GER), 16-20 March 2021 (US)
