A woman taking a cab ride from JFK engages in a conversation with the taxi driver about the important relationships in their lives.
Chuck says:
It’s been said that sometimes it’s easier to talk to a stranger than a friend. Writer/director Christy Hall takes that notion and runs with it in her impressive debut “Daddio,” an intriguing two-hander that’s essentially a prolonged confessional between a pair of troubled souls in the throes of denial. A showcase for Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson, the screen vets engage in a mutual long night of the soul, a very long cab ride from JFK to Manhattan the forum for this dramatic version of “Taxicab Confessions.”
It’s been a long night and Clark (Penn) is ready to pack it in after taking one more fare. It serves to be a fateful decision as his passenger is a tired, troubled woman with a lot on her mind. Never revealing her name, the hack ends up referring to her as Girlie (Johnson), a moniker he comes to realize does her a disservice.
Obviously tired, she’s in no mood for talking, preoccupied with a boyfriend who’s sexting her, an act she quietly disdains. However, Clark is a bit lonely, as well as student of human nature, and effortlessly pulls her into a conversation. Innocuous at first, their talk gradually becomes more intimate, subjects broached that far exceed the boundaries of polite conversation. Yet, there’s a willingness between the two – particularly on Girlie’s part – as if each needs to unburden themselves and who better to do so than with someone you’re not emotionally invested with?
A very convenient traffic jam allows Clark to probe a bit deeper and his sense Girlie wants to talk proves right. Before all is said and done, she reveals that she’s involved with an older, married man, that she had a troubled childhood, which included a neglectful father, and she’s just returned from Oklahoma, where she went to visit her half-sister to settle some familial issues.
The advice Clark gives her is of the dime-store variety, the sort of broad, obvious tropes Lucy Van Pelt would likely provide. Yet, the sincerity with which Penn delivers them helps negate their cliched nature. That he’s willing to divulge some of his own troubles as well as past problems lends credence to his advice and makes the quick bond these two form seem plausible.
With lesser performers, this could have been a stilted, laborious exercise. The script came Johnson’s way and knowing she would need a formidable co-star, sent it to her neighbor, Penn. Shot in a mere 16 days, the pair rise to the occasion, sparking off each other in a natural, and ultimately intimate manner that’s arresting from the start.
Penn gives us the kind of arresting turn we’ve come to expect from him. Charming and compelling, he neatly navigates his character’s intrusive nature, avoiding the pitfalls that might have made Clark seem overbearing or unnerving. Meanwhile, Johnson is proving to be an intriguing actress, looking for challenges in one off-beat project after another. She leaves no doubt her that she can hold her own with anyone she plays against, her strength and confidence her biggest assets.
It comes as no surprise that Hall had originally conceived this as a stage play and that most of this was shot on a soundstage seems ironic. Yet, this is apt as “Daddio’s” focus is the connection made by these two strangers and the empathy that results through such a meeting. Social isolation has grown as technology has taken over our lives, and Hall does us a great service by reminding us of the importance of forming true interpersonal connections in this impressive, deft debut.
3 1/2 Stars
