Daddio Review – Compelling, Exceptional Dialogue, Good Debut Effort

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Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film

Published on Wednesday, 19 June 2024 11:26

Written by Janet Walker

Daddio, from Sony Pictures Classic, brings to the screen a contemporary drama as two strangers, a New York taxi driver and a passenger meet by chance and over the course of the ride share their intimate secrets.

The film begins as the camera follows a young woman, played by Dakota Johnson, walking through JFK airport. She heads for the taxi line. The taxi attendant, played by Marcos Gonzales, takes her address and hails the cab. The next cab in line rolls up and she is on her way back to Manhattan.

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As the drive begins, she is texting, and soon the driver, Clark, played by Sean Penn starts to talk. Soon, the pair are engaged in conversation, which begins to take on more intimacy as the ride continues.

After a while she begins to receive text messages, and we realize this person we have met is hiding a personal life that is nasty. Her lover begins to ask her to place the camera between her legs and take pictures of herself and send them to him. What appears normal sex texting banter in their relationship, on this ride seems out of place.

Finally, we understand, she has been away from Manhattan, her life, and this man for a week visiting family. Breathing different air affected her outlook on her life, and the sex texting didn't have the same pull on her now as before.

During the ride, traffic stops as an accident makes it impossible to pass. During this time, the conversation becomes even more intimate, and Clark, who deconstructs the male psyche on everything from relationships to what men want, and then what men want when they don't want what they thought they wanted. And finally, as if going full circle, Clark seems to be a rescuer of sorts, he is drawn to his passenger, and is concerned about her.

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Finally, they begin to move and slowly pass by what appears to be much worse than the fender bender they both assumed. The scene, I believe, is to invoke a sense of urgency as life can be taken at any moment. And by this time, each has shared intimate details in a game of one upmanship.

Even with the reality check, and Clark's ability to deconstruct the dynamics of her relationship, she is unwilling to acknowledge the truth. By this time, we understand her relationship life is going nowhere. And the man is a married degenerate. As the cab enters the Mid-Town tunnel, the realities of being back in Manhattan cause her to ramp up her sex-texting, what had been holding her back, seems to hit her full on.

Daddio is an compelling film. Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson take the dialogue, with limited action, and bring a sense of authenticity to what could be an otherwise boring bomb. Essentially, they take the bartender-patron relationship and change the location, so by the end of the night, the question becomes will this go any further. Their performances are genuine.

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Written and directed by Christy Hall, the dialogue is very good, and causes the right emotions. We are disgusted (or at least we should be at the sex-texting and surprised at the honesty of Clark's revelations). Two handers can be a real challenge without feeling like it should be a stage play, however, Hall is able to make it work and evokes a sense a realism.

Hall showcases two sides of a female character, which essentially are the words to the Billy Joel song, "The Stranger," "we all have a face that we hide away forever." We are, or least we should be, shocked when we read the texts messages. At the first glance the character doesn't appear to be addicted to sex-texting and all that goes along with it, and yet we see her two personas, the sex-texting slutty gal Friday to the married lover, and a lucrative career woman, she doesn't need his money but allows herself to be treated like a whore for the extras. She integrates sex-texting as common behavior, and with that the idea of personal privacy or reticence seems to be lost on a generation raised on smartphones.

Daddio is a good debut effort for Director Christy Hall. However, even with the exceptional performances, and strong well-written dialogue, for me, Daddio was a slow ride. The film opens in theaters June 27, 2024.

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Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 101 minutes.

Release date: June 27, 2024.

Director: Christy Hall.

Producer: Ro Donnelly, Terry Dougas, Christy Hall, Dakota Johnson, Paris Kassidokostas-Latsis, Emma Tillinger Koskoff.

Writer: Christy Hall.

Cast: Sean Penn, Dakota Johnson, Marcos Gonzales.