There’s something liberating about a conversation with a stranger- someone you’ll never see again. You can be as intimate and transparent as you want. You can spill your secrets or invent a whole new personal history on the spot.
In “Daddio,” first-time director and writer Christy Hall gets two great performances from Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson. They talk and talk and talk some more, but I never lost interest in their conversation. To the contrary, there’s something fun about feeling as if you’re eavesdropping on a very private chat.
Johnson plays “Girlie,” a young woman who has just landed at JFK airport. Hailing a cab to drive her back to mid-town Manhattan, she’s in for one of those taxi cab conversations; luckily for her, the driver is Clark (Sean Penn), a curious (nosy?), loquacious cabbie who knows every street and route to Hell’s Kitchen.
Clark has the gift of being able to read people, he’s had enough experience, and his many questions for Girlie range from the broad to the quite personal. Game for the back and forth, Girlie spills the tea on where she came from, where she’s going, and who keeps texting her during the ride.
When it’s his turn, Clark has a lot to say about relationships between men and women, how the Big Apple is changing, and glimpses of his own past.
The whole movie is that ride into the city-just the two of them. A two-hander like this isn’t going to be for everyone, but Hall has filmed the trip with so many cool cutaways and angles, along with a stop for an accident- related traffic jam, that we don’t feel too claustrophobic.
In my own life, I have always been interested in the stories behind my drivers. They are usually interesting tales. Here, Penn is a total pro at these long monologues and he feels completely authentic, which is not a surprise, as he drops some nuggets. But Johnson gives maybe her best performance as a saavy, sexy, and sharp woman.
Many viewers will prefer more action and less talk, but for those who enjoy one act plays and arthouse offerings, this is an hour and forty minutes of Master Class acting.
Daddio | In Theaters June 28th | Rated “R” for language and some naughty texts
