This is the kind of movie you can make if when you search the couch cushions you can come up with $1.47 and Mark Duplass. Language Lessons is the epitome of a simple film: two computers, two actors, two settings. Almost no action. Which isn’t to say this film had nothing going on … it had plenty. But not a single moment involved the interaction of two actors on the same side of the camera, and the only stunts involved were Mark Duplass playing a piano and writer/director/co-star Natalie Morales drinking a beer.
As simple as it sounds, Language Lessons is about Cariño (Morales) teaching Spanish via internet to Adam (co-writer/co-star Duplass). She lives in Costa Rica; he in Oakland, California (WOO! Go A’s!), so the lessons paid for in secret by Adam’s partner, Will (the never-seen-live-on-camera Desean Terry), are 100% over FaceTime. Oh, and despite the initial trepidation, Adam speaks Spanish muy bueno already. Part of me suspected that this film was made just so Duplass could show off exactly how much Spanish he knew.
You see how simple this is – Cariño is on one end, Adam is on another. And the whole point to their interactions is that they are one-on-one. Such is unnecessarily reinforced when Will dies in a car accident before lesson #2.
These “lessons” take on a relationship beyond simple tutoring; they turn out more like conversations, or even one-way confessionals. Adam is an American with zero hobbies and zero jobs, but a bunch of money and a bunch of free time. Cariño is a worker bee. I imagine her $10/lesson rate goes far in Costa Rica, which is good because we don’t exactly know what’s going on with her; she’s very tight-lipped about a great 
deal of stuff. Still, the two manage upbeat and friendly conversations about religion, homosexuality, poverty, social dynamics and –sometimes- even language! And it’s pretty clear early on that neither person has a whole lot of positive going on in their lives; they NEED this. Both of them; that’s what makes this film enjoyable.
It would be easy to dismiss Language Lessons as a classic COVID film. IT IS A COVID FILM. There are only two people in the screenplay and they spend all their time talking to screens. This is exactly the kind of film you and your friends made when you couldn’t see one another in person. The difference is this bit of fiction is written and acted by professionals. Language Lessons is a very simple picture, and yet, it’s kind of adorable. At its heart, there are just two people having an extended conversation, a modern day My Dinner with Andre, if you will. But it’s not quite that; in a way, it is exactly the opposite. It’s not two random people who are proximally close but intimately worlds away; it’s two people separated by thousands of miles, but socially extremely close. And it makes the picture a winner.
Lost souls hope for something they can keep
A connection intangible yet deep
On the premise of Spanish
Hope their bond won’t vanish
Lesson one: try not to act like a creep
Not Rated, 91 Minutes
Director: Natalie Morales
Writer: Mark Duplass, Natalie Morales
Genre: COVID film
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of simple
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Action hounds
