'Language Lessons' Review
NR
Runtime: 1 Hr and 31 Minutes
Production Companies: Duplass Brothers Productions
Distributor: Shout! Studios
Director: Natalie Morales
Writer: Natalie Morales, Mark Duplass
Cast: Natalie Morales, Mark Duplass
Release Date: September 10, 2021
In Theaters and VOD
When Adam's (Mark Duplass) husband surprises him with weekly Spanish lessons, he's unsure about where or how this new element will fit into his already structured life. But when tragedy strikes, his Spanish teacher, Cariño (Natalie Morales), becomes a lifeline he didn't know he needed. Adam develops an unexpected and complicated emotional bond with Cariño — but do you really know someone just because you've experienced a traumatic moment with them?
2021 has been a great year for narratives that explore how human connection and platonic love can come from anywhere in any form. It can be a cross-generational friendship between a man and his surrogate (Together Together), two sea monster kids wanting to win a Vespa (Luca), or two smalltown gals going to Vista Del Mar (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar). In Language Lessons’ case, you have a gay man and his Spanish teacher becoming closer via virtual Spanish lessons. If Zoom calls weren't the primary form of communicating with family and friends within the last year, Language Lessons’ storytelling format would’ve been considered somewhat innovative, but due to the writing by Mark Duplass and Natalie Morales — who challenge themselves to craft a story about two unlikely strangers of different locations, personality, and sexuality becoming friends and beginning a beautiful, loving relationship — it sure is engaging.
Duplass and Morales are irresistible in their respective roles, especially Duplass who stays true to his authentic self in his performance as a gay male. He’s always portrayed sensitive and tender characters and that’s the case with Adam. Duplass is not hamming up any form of flamboyance whatsoever and you still buy him as his gay character who is going through a rough time emotionally. There are moments where he and Morales are communicating about their emotions in Spanish and it works so well in context to the narrative and is impressive for Duplass to exhibit as a performer. It takes a lot of practice to pretend you’re NOT fluent in Spanish. Soooo, does Mark Duplass know Spanish? Morales’s Cariño on the other hand is more gruff with an emotional wall surrounding her. She keeps the information about her personal life under wraps and as the narrative progresses, those walls break down. Morales and Duplass’ chemistry and screenplay are the driving force of the film and they are outstanding.
Language Lessons is heavy on dialogue, for the story is composed of various modes of virtual communication like Zoom chats, voice memos, and voice calls. Throughout various conversations, Morales and Duplass do a fantastic job pacing and developing the relationship their characters share and their individuality. Whenever you feel a lull in the film, it pulls your interest as Adam and Cariño reveal details about themselves and you feel their budding friendship become deeper. The film becomes more tender to tackle empathy and grief. Because the past year has made just about everybody experience some new form of trauma, the film approaches it with thoughtfulness and generosity without feeling way too saccharine for its own good. When it gets to those emotional beats regarding grief and pain, Adam’s dependence on Cariño grows stronger; it’s earned and their conversations become more human. For its 90-minute runtime, Language Lessons keeps you invested more so than any other film of its same nature.
Countless times during this year, I’ve commented on how exhausting it's been to watch movies that are either about this current pandemic or that incorporate video chatting software like Zoom as a device to drive a narrative. But alas, when you got the Duplass Brothers Productions seal of approval, you know it will be a quality project. As far as Zoom-centric films of 2021 go, Natalie Morales’ second directorial outing, Language Lessons, stands as the cream of the crop. It adds so much weight, charm, and pure emotion to this comedy about finding human connection through grief and pain. Duplass and Morales explore the notion of connection in a poignant manner through a series of video messages and video calls and it’s a down-to-earth, platonic comedy that stands out as one of the most heartfelt and human films of this year.
