“Daddio” is one of the best movies of 2024, and a really smart film about how people forge connections. You might have to go back to 1995 and “Before Sunrise” to find as good a depiction of two people making the journey from strangers to intimates.
But what’s different and possibly unique about “Daddio” is that the connection presented here isn’t a romantic one. Sean Penn plays a taxi driver, and Dakota Johnson plays a woman who gets into his cab at JFK Airport. He’s about 60, and she appears to be in her early 30s, so they’re not going to pair off.
Yet at the same time, their interaction is inflected by a certain male-female energy, by their appreciation of each other as a man and a woman, respectively. This energy is often a presence in daily life, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it presented onscreen, at least not this well. It’s the practice of movies to bring that energy to the surface, but here it stays where it usually resides, on a subterranean level, giving their conversation an extra charge — admiration on her part, perhaps a touch of longing on his part.
“Daddio” is the feature debut of Christy Hall, who also wrote the screenplay, and I want to see every movie she makes from here on. There is so much wisdom on display about how people get to know each other. There are conversational advances and retreats, transgressions and punishments, and the movie demonstrates Hall’s understanding of an uncomfortable reality: Until you’ve had an argument with somebody, you’re not really friends.
“Daddio” also illustrates that sometimes strangers are best equipped to diagnose our problems and point us in the right direction. Sometimes it’s easier to be completely honest with someone you know you’re never going to see again.
The conversation starts off in a mundane sort of way. She gets into the cab feeling tired and a bit distracted, and the driver tries to bring her out with what we can assume is a patented monologue about how apps are destroying the taxi business. Soon they’re talking about their personal lives, and he makes the correct guess that she’s involved with a married man.
One of the more wonderful things about “Daddio” is that it doesn’t go in a typical movie direction. The driver is smart and observant, but Hall doesn’t make him into an oracle. He remains a pretty rough guy, who has seen a certain side of life. He has gaps in his knowledge, and some of what he does know is wrong. And yet we understand that this is somebody that this young woman should be talking to.
“Daddio”: Drama. Starring Sean Penn and Dakota Johnson. Directed by Christy Hall. (R. 101 minutes.) In theaters Friday, June 28.
Likewise, without going into revealing details, Hall resists the usual temptation to solve or resolve things. In life, sometimes we make intense connections that can’t be defined. Sometimes we know that people have helped or guided us, even if we can’t point to anything specific that they did or influenced. You just know.
In “Daddio,” they just know, too, and it’s beautiful to see.
Penn is amazing. This is one of the great Penn performances, easily his best since “Milk,” full of feeling, history and intelligence — as well as playfulness and mischief. A lesser actor would have tried to make the driver into Yoda, and a lesser director would have let him do it. Penn plays him as a regular guy, but infuses the performance with love — Penn’s love for the character, and the driver’s love of people.
As for Johnson, the fact that she’s extraordinary here won’t be surprising to anyone who’s been paying attention to her career, but this is the best chance she’s ever had onscreen and the best she’s ever been.
The human connection the two characters make in this film would be understandable to anyone in any century, past or future. For that reason, there’s a very good chance here that Hall, Penn and Johnson have made more than a good movie with “Daddio.” They may have made a classic.
Reach Mick LaSalle: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com