Papai

8.0 stars.

This is a film that everyone must see at least once. This is where you take your troubles and dreams and talk to someone you love and trust, and tell them about a person in your life called Daddio.

What a compelling story about a complex woman and a down-to-earth taxi driver. As they continue to talk, he pulls all of her sorrows out of her and it's all on the table for discussion and healing. But she is not just an ordinary woman, she's also a person of great empathy and she will win this game of honest discourse and reparation of the soul.

I was profoundly touched by these two wonderful actors.

I saw Daddio with a multigenerational group of people a few days ago. It is more powerful, poignant, intriguing, insightful, and engaging than I expected, given that there are just two main characters in the film. Turns out there was a wealth of emotion, humanity and dissonant "wisdom" revealed during the interplay of the actors portraying these two characters. The movie sparked a lot of conversation, reflection, and varied perspectives among the members of our movie going group. All of us were unified in praising the striking nature of the dialogue, the unique nature of the production, and the fantastic performances of Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson in this film.

There are a lot of elements of this movie that touched me. One is the familiarity and authenticity of setting- New York City's JFK to Manhattan. Familiar territory here and handled with realism. There has been a movement in film's post Covid to shoot small film's that are story, script, and actor driven-perhaps for budgetary reasons. This movie meets that criteria. Very much like this year's, His Three Daughters, the movie could easily have been a play. Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson are the entire cast and the stars. The film is founded on believing their relationship, and evolving familiarity, as cab driver and passenger. Very well done. Dakota Johnson really impressed me. While I know Sean Penn is a great actor, I had no idea Dakota Johnson was so good.

Greetings again from the darkness. "MY DINNER WITH ANDRE in a NYC taxi cab." That's my description of writer-director Christy Hall's first feature film. Of course, that's an over-simplification, as her film deals with gender roles, socio-economic topics, and a big ol' dose of emotional baggage. It's what's known in the business as a two-hander. We have two characters and one setting and a whole bunch of talking. Casting being crucial here, filmmaker Hall did choose wisely with Dakota Johnson and two-time Oscar winner Sean Penn.

Johnson's character (billed only as "Girlie") arrives at JFK airport and catches a cab to midtown. She and the driver, Clark (Penn) exchange generic banter, but soon enough Clark breaks the barrier by stunning her with his analysis of her situation, based on observation skills honed through 20 years of driving a NYC cab. He's been around the proverbial block a few times and Penn is permitted to work in a monologue about his disappointment with humanity, commerce, and technology. We learn he views himself as a common man 'Vinny', and we learn she's a coder by profession - as well as a nail biter who's texting a mysterious man - a man not shy in pleading with her for a sext.

A traffic jam on the highway stalls the trip, but accelerates the conversation. Clark gets more inside info from the woman he's determined "can handle yourself", and their quasi - quid pro quo spills more beans than either would typically open up about in normal circumstances. Her recent two-week trip to Oklahoma was to visit her estranged half-sister ... a trip that holds yet another twisty secret that she's surprised at herself for disclosing. Clark is not shy about dishing out armchair psychology advice, much of it based on his own past mistakes. Cheaters, specifically the difference between adulterous men and women, is a topic close to both of these folks, and Clark rambles on.

Dakota Johnson (thriving in indies) is truly at her best when she has minimal dialogue, and much is demanded of her facial expressions and body language (this is a compliment). Sean Penn thrives in a role where he is doling out free advice, and keeping score based on personal details provided. These two actors are the reason this film works, however, it seems clear this movie fits neatly into a festival circuit, while likely having little mainstream appeal.

Opens in theaters on June 28, 2024.

Daddio is a story about a young woman who takes a long taxi ride from the airport to home with an older man as her driver. They both divulge personal anecdotes about their lives with seemingly no filter. At first glance it does not appear to be a great foundation for a film. However as the story progresses we find out that the young woman, (Dakota Johnson) who is never named, is involved in an affair with an older, married man. We also find out that the taxi driver 'Clark' (Sean Penn) has a fairly sharp focus on life and relationships after being married more than once.

They share details about their lives, taking turns in a sort of competition about who can reveal the most inner secrets. Clark seems to have a very clear insight into how people work and explains to the woman that she is in a relationship going nowhere. She on the other hand, appears to probably know this, but maybe she does not care as the relationship suits her present needs.

Whether you agree with Clark's opinions or the woman's actions doesn't matter, what matters is how they interact in sharing their stories and what it says about human relationships. We see Clark as possibly not able to have a proper relationship due to his cynicism about people and his free spirit. We see the woman as never been shown love from her father, so she seeks it through sexual relationships, to the point she even calls her married lover 'Daddy'. She even maintains a memory of her own father, on the only occasion he ever touched her, which appears to be a false memory.

The entire film was shot in the cab, in real time order, with 90% of the film being closeups of either Clark or the woman. Sean Penn is his usual fabulous self. He's getting on now but plays the part of the older, possibly wiser man with great insight and delivery. Dakota Johnson is excellent as the woman. She displays a whole range of emotions and you can mostly tell what she's thinking all of the time. She does her signature biting of the fingernail but it doesn't seem cheap or staged at all. The pair of them had so much chemistry and acted in such an understated yet brilliant way that I want to see it again.

The photography was perfect too and apart from Penn's and Johnson's faces the only other shots were outside the cab watching it drive along the street.

Some might find it uninteresting because there's only the two of them, in a cab, talking for an hour and a half. I think it's storytelling at it's best as within the conversations are so many worldly expositions and many people might find many differing points of view. I absolutely love this film and I gave it a solid 8.