‘Daddio’ Evaluate: Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn Shine in a Taxi-Set Two-Hander

Christy Corridor makes a modest however rewarding directorial debut with Daddio, a two-hander starring Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson, the latter of whom additionally deserves credit score for lending assist to the offbeat challenge as producer.

The film opens with a younger girl (Johnson) getting right into a taxi at JFK airport. Her cab driver (Penn) appears happy that she shouldn’t be in thrall to her cellular phone however truly is open to dialog. The rest of the film takes place within the cab as each characters let their guard down and reveal secrets and techniques that they won’t confide in many others of their lives. The idea of strangers sharing secrets and techniques shouldn’t be unheard-of in drama, and Corridor has stated she first conceived Daddio as a play. Nevertheless it works successfully on movie, because of excellent performances by the 2 actors and deft staging by the director.

Earlier than too lengthy, Johnson’s character does take out her cellular phone, the place she is receiving raunchy messages from a person who begs her for some intimate pictures. Penn rapidly guesses that her cellphone pal is a married man, and he quickly realizes that the person is significantly older than Johnson — additionally hinted at by the movie’s title. Johnson is coming back from a go to together with her older half-sister in Oklahoma, and the backstory of a distant father surfaces, as do extra painful revelations of an absent mom and a historical past of abuse by her sister.

As Penn listens with the nonjudgmental knowledge of a person who has in all probability heard all of it throughout many different lengthy cab journeys, he reveals a bit about his personal loneliness and frustrations. However there isn’t a query that Johnson’s troubled historical past will type the core of the story. She appears to have overcome previous traumas to type a reasonably profitable profession as a pc programmer, however the previous wounds are deep, and her current entanglement with Daddy (or Daddio) has finished little or no to ease her ache. Viewers might imagine that Penn is nearly enjoying the function of therapist, asking simply the precise questions to attract out her historical past and inspiring her to ponder among the selections she has made in her life.

Johnson, nonetheless in all probability finest identified for her function within the Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy, has finished advantageous work in different motion pictures like The Misplaced Daughter and Cha Cha Actual Clean. However her efficiency right here continues to be one thing of a revelation. She instructions the display screen in closeup, and he or she radiates power in addition to a deep sense of harm. Penn has proven versatility previously. He has performed loads of robust guys, however he exuded humor and heat in his Oscar-winning function in Milk. Right here he channels a few of that very same appeal and makes an ideal foil to Johnson. In the course of the course of their dialog, Penn speaks of two failed marriages and recollects privileged moments in his first marriage. Johnson asks if he misses his spouse, and he solutions, “Generally.” The expression on Penn’s face demonstrates the eloquence {that a} gifted actor can summon with out saying greater than a single phrase.

One thing ought to be added in regards to the bodily challenges of filming nearly a whole film in a taxicab. In line with Corridor, a lot of the film was truly shot in a studio with a taxi constructed on the stage. The truth that it appears so genuine is a tribute not solely to the director however to veteran cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Nebraska, The Trial of the Chicago 7) and manufacturing designer Kristi Zea (The Departed, The Silence of the Lambs). There are only a few exterior pictures within the movie, and one exhibits the aftermath of a horrific accident that prompted a serious delay on the protagonists’ journey. This scene shouldn’t be irrelevant; it conveys the fragility of life and the significance of significant connection in an typically harmful world.

The 2 principal characters right here have undoubtedly made that connection by the point Johnson reaches her vacation spot in Manhattan. The conclusion leaves their futures very a lot an open query, however the two very good performances and the tactful hand of a gifted new director ensures that the viewers will nonetheless be fascinated by these individuals lengthy after the journey ends.