‘Daddio’ Review: Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn Shine in a Taxi-Set Two-Hander – Hollywood Reporter

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 venture as producer.

The film opens with a younger lady (Johnson) getting right into a taxi at JFK airport. Her cab driver (Penn) appears happy that she just isn’t in thrall to her mobile phone however really 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 speak in confidence to many others of their lives. The idea of strangers sharing secrets and techniques just isn’t 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 mobile phone, the place she is receiving raunchy messages from a person who begs her for some intimate photographs. Penn shortly guesses that her telephone 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 getting back from a go to along 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 most likely 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 kind the core of the story. She appears to have overcome previous traumas to kind a reasonably profitable profession as a pc programmer, however the previous wounds are deep, and her current entanglement with Daddy (or Daddio) has completed 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 a few of the selections she has made in her life.

Johnson, nonetheless most likely greatest identified for her function within the Fifty Shades trilogy, has completed advantageous work in different motion pictures like The Misplaced Daughter and Cha Cha Actual Easy. However her efficiency right here remains to be one thing of a revelation. She instructions the display screen in closeup, and she or he radiates power in addition to a deep sense of damage. Penn has proven versatility prior to now. 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 attraction and makes an ideal foil to Johnson. Through 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, “Typically.” 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 must be added concerning the bodily challenges of filming virtually a whole film in a taxicab. Based on Corridor, a lot of the film was really 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 precipitated a significant delay on the protagonists’ journey. This scene just isn’t irrelevant; it conveys the fragility of life and the significance of significant connection in an usually harmful world.

The 2 important 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.