Directing: B-
Acting: B+
Writing: B-
Cinematography: B
Editing: B

There’s a turning point in Language Lesson, where the conceit of FaceTime being the singular lens through which we see the only two characters finally becomes secondary, and the narrative comes to the forefront and even becomes genuinely moving. This is mostly due to the winning performances by Natalie Morales and Mark Duplass, the only two people we ever see onscreen, but even that is, ultimately, too little too late.

Their intentions are good, their hearts very much in the right place, and Language Lessons is the latest in the increasing line of experimental cinema borne of COVID lockdowns. Not only are there only two characters in this entire story, but there is only one scene in which they are seen in each other’s physical presence. The rest of the time, watching this movie is a lot like actually being on the video calls so many of us grew weary of months ago—most of us actually stopped using them so regularly that long ago, in favor of still-careful, but more frequent in-person socializing. How many people actually want to experience that again?

Much of the same concerns apply to the other lockdown-related movie released recently, Together, but that movie is actually about living through this pandemic; it’s far more successful at creating a plausible, compelling story within that context; and crucially, it’s about a household of characters who still do interact within each other’s physical spaces. Turns out, this makes a pretty significant difference: the 2018 John Cho vehicle Searching already explored this type of filmmaking, the entire film consisting of computer and mobile device screens, with mixed results at best. And that was well before there was any hint of a pandemic. Incidentally, I gave Searching a C+, and it does beg the question: would I have liked Language Lessons more had it been released then? Or would I even have liked Searching more had it been released now, perhaps with current limitations making it more impressive? Context always makes a difference.

Granted, so does writing, no matter the context, and if not the entire script of Language Lessons, then certainly its premise is its real problem. This movie offers no acknowledgment of a pandemic, but is clearly a product of it—directed by Natalie Morales, and co-written by Morales and Mark Duplass. (Knowing Morales was a writer makes me feel slightly better about a couple of cringey lines referencing “white savior” and even the literal phrase “white shit,” which would have worked even less well had they just been written by some white guy.) Duplass plays Adam, a gay man whose wealthy husband (heard, but never seen) has gifted him 100 virtual Spanish lessons as a surprise gift.

This setup is relatively problematic from the start. For some reason, the Spanish “immersion” teacher is based in Costa Rica, patching in via what looks like FaceTime from abroad to teach these classes virtually. How did Adam’s husband find her, I wonder? And why on earth would he not loop Cariño in on the fact that this is a surprise? She’s just as baffled by what’s going on when the husband sets up the laptop for Adam to find one morning as his surprise first lesson. We are meant to think of the husband as a decent, loving person, but this kind of behavior seems weirdly sociopathic to me.

And then, by the second lesson, Adam’s husband has died in a car accident. And this is ultimately the premise of the movie: Cariño calls in at the scheduled time to find Adam in a stunned daze, and does what she can, from thousands of miles away, to offer support, basically becoming a long distance friend under very strange circumstances. Adam frets about his husband’s family and the employees of the dance business he owns, but does he not have any family or friends of his own? It’s never even brought up, even though over time we learn at least a little about Cariño’s family.

If only Language Lessons took some time with its countless unanswered questions, it might have worked, even if barely. Instead, its half-baked premise, and its stunted character development, are its fatal flaws. It’s understandable that artists should want to find ways to express themselves even under the massive constraints of last year’s pandemic lockdowns, and some of the products of those expressions work, and some of them don’t. Ultimately, most of Language Lessons, the first half of which is packed with unintentional awkwardness, is the latter. It does find its footing, and Morales and Duplass have chemistry, but it takes a bit too long for the narrative to find it.

Overall: B-