It’s hard to imagine that a year ago, I had no idea what Zoom was, and now it makes a prominent appearance in every other pandemic-age movie like some haughty teenage breakthrough actor. Typically, I find the abject saturation of technology to be quite a turn-off when it comes to my audiovisual media, and that is even more so the case now that it seems to be permanently entangled with content reflecting the coronavirus, which in and of itself is a problem. However, this is very much not the case with SXSW Audience Award Recipient Language Lessons, Natalie Morales’s debut directorial feature that she herself wrote and stars in alongside Mark Duplass — well, not alongside, exactly as the film takes place from two ends of a Zoom call.
The film opens on an awkward Zoom call, with Spanish teacher Cariño (Morales) on one end, and… nobody on the other end. Nick (Desean Terry) is surprising his husband Adam (Duplass) with a 1000-session package of Spanish lessons, waiting for Adam to roll out of bed and to traipse down into the kitchen where the computer is stationed. The first lesson sets the tone for the rest of the film: Morales and Duplass have such a prodigious chemistry as friends that the immersive conversation in Spanish flows naturally, despite Adam’s occasional misstep with the language. This new encounter between two people from different areas in the world — Adam is in Oakland and Cariño is somewhere in Costa Rica — turns into something much deeper, as the initial whimsicality of the film is eclipsed by devastating news. When Cariño calls Adam for his second lesson, she finds his normal effervescence has been superseded by a dazed lethargy: Nick has suddenly passed away, and Cariño is left agape on the other end of the call.
Following this early juncture, the lessons are put on hold for a while, but that’s okay — this is where the film’s winsome nature truly gains momentum. Cariño, already invested in her friendship with her student, begins to send him video messages; first, they serve as mere courtesy, but after multiple exchanges, the sincerity of their bond begins to blossom. In one instance, Cariño offers Adam a “fun” homework assignment to differentiate between the Spanish verbs “ser” and “estar” under the pretense of using work as a distraction; when Adam confesses that he doesn’t feel ready to jump into much of anything, Cariño feels both ignorant and insensitive, providing a genuine commentary on the true ineptitude of how we as a society deal with death: it’s not a rational thing. Much to Cariño’s surprise however, Adam sends her a delightful video of him dressed to the nines in a tux, delivering an infantine poem fit for a middle schooler.
The pacing of the film is close to perfect, with quite a braggable amount of punches packed into the 91-minute run time. The true beauty of Language Lessons is that it’s not pretending to be something that it’s not. Morales delivers the quintessential COVID film — low budget, small cast — without the pandemic playing a role at all. Instead, Morales paints a candid portrait of a friendship that blooms between two people separated by distance, playing on the pathos of the world without besieging viewers with another reminder of current events. In other words, the escapism is still there.
The byproduct of this choice is a complex and relatable study of a beautiful, platonic relationship. The comedy is there, as well as the heartfelt moments, and Language Lessons serves as a true feel-good flick that doesn’t turn its nose up to platonic love stories.
