Popular reviews

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  Review by The Reel House ★★★½

  I have been anticipating this movie for so long now. Mark Duplass is honestly one of my favourites, he’s just such a gem and everything him and his brother Jay continue to make is more inventive and creative than their last. 
  I’m a huge fan of the Duplass brothers and their work so this one was a biggie. The film is produced by the brothers and directed by Natalie Morales who also costars with Mark Duplass. 

  Webcam movies are very interesting. Sometimes they can be fantastic, other times they can be gimmicky and under thought. 
  The film is literally two people talking on a webcam for an hour and a half. To perfect that idea and make it wholly interesting…

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  Review by Matt Neglia ★★★★ 1

  I’m not one for “quarantine films” but LANGUAGE LESSONS is a rom-com that perfectly transcends that genre trapping, offering something sweet & endearing that will outlive this era we’re all living through. The chemistry between Natalie Morales & Mark Duplass is so infectious it melted my cynical heart & made me a believer in the power of human connection again. Loved it!

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  Review by Rosie ★★★★

  This is a comedy-drama shot entirely through video chat. Starring Mark Duplass as Adam, who was gifted weekly Spanish lessons via Zoom with Carino the Spanish teacher played by Natalie Morales for his birthday. An unexpected platonic bond develops between the two when a tragedy occurs. Duplass and Morales were so endearing in this. The friendship felt genuine and there was a gentleness to it. It’s a human drama with complex emotions. But there was also lighthearted quirky humor that breaks up the tension. Duplass (Creep, The One I Love, Paddleton) is known for his mumblecore format and it works here for the most part. The rambling felt too natural at times that a few segments were lengthy. All in all, it’s a sweet little gem, worth the watch.

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  Review by laura ★★★½ 1

  based on the cover image of mark duplass you would think this is creep 3 but it is actually very sweet :')

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  Review by Ella Kemp ★★★½

  Really impressed by Natalie Morales’ debut, harnessing screen-set relationships to explore the limitations and vulnerabilities that come with the platform, while just letting wonderful chemistry flow in unexpected places. Mark Duplass is raw, vulnerable - but Morales is a revelation. I hope this goes far, I think it’ll touch a lot of people.

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  Review by MarMar ★★★½

  I was definitely not expecting to love this going in. I for one am exhausted from quarantine type movies as I’m sure a lot of people are but I have to say that this one is an exception to the rule. It’s a virtual rom-com that works extremely well especially when you have two characters that’s not romantically involved and just talks through zoom conversations 99% of the movie. I love the friendship and the natural conversations they have; so organic and helpful for one another. Even as a person who don’t have any friends (sad I know) I value human connection to point where I see that as a weakness in myself. I guess when you rarely receive it you can’t help but desire it

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  Review by Ashton ★★★½

  leave it to natalie morales and mark duplass to come out the gate with the best zoomcore feature to date

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  Review by JBird ★★★½ 3

  Natalie Morales teaches Spanish one day,
  As Duplass asks, "How do you say...?"
  But the real lesson,
  Which they weren't guessin':
  The friendship made along the way.

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  Review by Sara Clements ★★★★½

  The COVID-era movie feels like its own genre at this point. These are films set in lockdown, whose plots deal with the pandemic, shot in one location or on Zoom. Indeed, films made using iPhone cameras or webcams aren't anything new, but these techniques are made even more prominent considering most people are confined to their homes. Shudder's horror film Host, for example, is shot on Zoom and focuses explicitly on the pandemic, as characters even wear their face masks while being chased down by a demon.

  Language Lessons, on the other hand, is unlike other COVID-era Zoom movies, despite its similar backdrop. Filmed while its two stars, Natalie Morales and Mark Duplass, were stuck at home during quarantine, it…

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  Review by kevinyang ★★★

  Definitely the best pandemic era production I've seen, and while that's a pretty low bar, it's still a testament to Morales' assured directing and the pure charm she and Duplass bring to their roles. Due to the format, the film runs into a number of roadblocks in building its story and character beats, and too often relies on overblown drama and manufactured tragedy to keep things moving (the film also starts to get into an interesting conversation about the class and race differences, but never quite develops it). But in the end it's a very solid effort with a sweet friendship at its center, and it's about resilience and the slow but sure feeling of having someone break through your shell. Exhibits a lot of promise for Natalie Morales behind the camera, excited to see what she does next.

  GRADE: B-

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  Review by PopcornIdeology ★★★½ 2

  Muy bien

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  Review by BrandonHabes ★★★★ 4

  LANGUAGE LESSONS surprised the hell outta me. The Zoom format had me highly skeptical going in, I'm not a fan of these kinds of structural stories in the least, and the bare bones laptop style which brought me back to the office gave me a moment's pause. But wow. I was wrong. And like I said, very caught off guard. Morales and Duplass are so infectiously good and emotionally honest they basically become living proof that the tenets of Dogme 95 (specifically: story, theme and performance) are all you really need. I'd be lying if I said my heart wasn't turned from black to gold by the time the credits rolled.

  My jaded followers won't find anything here to admire.…