Virtually a bug tale
Duplass, Morales do platonic vid-chat love
“Language Lessons” translates our need to connect.
While quarantine hit in early 2020, Mark Duplass took online Spanish classes rather than “baking bread and watching ’90s movies.”
The payoff came with the video chat-set drama “Language Lessons,” directed by Natalie Morales, who co-wrote it and co-stars with Duplass (both, photo).
The film, which screened in Brooklyn on Thursday night as part of Rooftop Films’ Summer Series and hits theaters nationally Sept. 10, put Duplass’ burgeoning Spanish skills to use. “Language Lessons,” filmed entirely via video chat, tells the story of a man whose husband buys him two years of virtual Spanish lessons and who then forms a bond with his virtual instructor, Cariño (Morales).
“I noticed that, in conversational Spanish, if you don’t like small talk, what ends up happening is you kind of go in deep quickly,” Duplass, 44, told the Daily News. “And it was really fascinating to me that sort of across time zones, across language barriers, this video chat format was actually facilitating a much deeper connection.”
Throughout the film, Duplass’ Adam and Morales’ Cariño form a bond neither of them expected to need.
“We didn’t want to make a specifically COVID story, so while this story happened during that timeframe, we didn’t choose to incorporate COVID as a storyline into it,” explained Duplass, who together with his brother Jay has directed 10 feature films, including the low-budget horror franchise “Creep.”
The idea for the film came to Duplass following the loss of his dear friend, director Lynn Shelton, whom he worked with on “Humpday” and “Your Sister’s Sister.”
“I was in a more raw place in that moment,” said Duplass. “And then I think when you are speaking in a second language, at least in my experience, you don’t have as many words. You don’t have as much control over the language. You can’t hide as well behind things. So you just become a little more basic in the way that you communicate and it opens up a different side.”
He and Morales, who directed some episodes of his HBO series, “Room 104,” also wanted to explore the “depth and complexity of a platonic relationship, just like romantic comedies do,” said Duplass.
The duo, whose real-life platonic connection is in part explored through their characters, shares “a certain sort of creative bravado” that only further incentivized Duplass to work with Morales, whose credits include recurring roles in “The Newsroom” and “Dead To Me.”
“I knew I wanted to make this movie quickly and recklessly, and we both promised each other that if it sucks, it sucked, and we would never show anyone. We would just do it cheaply. And that was freeing and really fun,” said Duplass.
Though video conferencing through programs like Zoom has become such a fixture in our lives, Duplass found it a challenge to keep from boring audiences with a movie where the main characters only interact through their screens.
“But I also feel like a form is just a form and it’s just waiting there for someone to come around and revolutionize it and do something interesting with it.”