Sean Penn plays Clark, a 60-year-old New York City cab driver. Dakota Johnson is the young, nameless passenger he takes on the long ride from the airport to her home. The extremely minimal plot unfolds during the cab ride, with the camera remaining entirely and somewhat claustrophobically within the cab’s interior, with a few exceptions. As the journey begins, the driver strikes up a casual conversation, and his young passenger happily chats with him.

At first, the conversation is about superficial topics like the weather and traffic, but gradually the two delve deeper and more personally into the subject, eventually drifting into personal philosophy, playful banter and verbal competition, and friendly disagreements about things like the differences between male and female worldviews. Their respective perspectives, stemming from their differences in age, profession, gender and education, come to the fore, but are not allowed to disrupt their cautious understanding.

The actual conversation, however, provides only a partial portrait of the two characters. The rest is given with meticulous care through their reactions, facial expressions, and manner of speech, sometimes giving a deeper understanding of a character’s true feelings, sometimes suggesting that a statement was not entirely honest or complete. Additional clues come from the texts the passenger sometimes receives on her phone and her response to them—a key ingredient in the drama. The passenger is initially cautious, like any woman traveling alone, refusing to give her name and giving only a street corner as her destination rather than a specific address, but she also handles the driver’s verbal challenges with considerable aplomb. As the conversation becomes more personal and serious, we are often left with something of a mystery.

Are the driver’s observations about male-female relationships realistic, based on his greater experience, or merely the views of an older man bound by convention? Are they always sincere, or merely the expression of bitterness over past regrets? Are his guesses about his passengers accurate, based on long experience, or merely prejudices? Are the young woman’s views on life and love accurate, or do they stem from youthful naivety? Is she really as strong and independent as she seems? The answers are not given to us, any more than they are to the two characters. The subject cannot be sketched in detail, not because it would spoil the plot, but because the flow of the conversation is so carefully constructed to reveal what it must reveal in the proper order.

Sean Penn is at his most understated and brilliant in the role of Clark, a self-assured man, kind but down-to-earth and with a slightly cynical outlook on life. Penn lives up to his established reputation in a role that demands just the right tone and the right interaction with his co-star. Dakota Johnson, meanwhile, shatters the expectations set by some less notable roles with a performance that perfectly suits the role, as understated as the part demands, yet emotional and quietly moving when necessary.

Both manage to express as much with their silent reactions as with their actual dialogue. Their casting was a stroke of luck: Dakota Johnson was initially approached to serve as a producer, but after reading the script, she asked for the role of a female passenger. Johnson in turn showed the script to Sean Penn, who was equally impressed and volunteered for the role of Clark. Hall explained in an interview that the impressive cast made it much easier to secure financing for the project, despite her lack of directing experience.

Credit goes to the film’s veteran cinematographer, Phedon Papamichael, for contributing immensely to the story through his creative camerawork. As the two characters’ dialogue develops, the camera offers, when appropriate, a limited view of the cabin interior; glimpses of the dark streets outside, washed out by city lights so that the exterior seems dim and distant; close-ups of the characters’ faces when appropriate; and occasionally a glimpse of Clark as seen by his passenger, or the young woman as seen by her driver. The outside world intrudes rarely, at well-chosen moments.

Director Hall originally wrote the script as a play, but realized that film would allow for a more “up close and personal” experience and could convey the intimacy of the scene in a way that a stage performance could not. The final product, which benefits greatly from expressive camerawork, shows that her instincts were correct. Despite the seemingly bare storyline, the insightful script and believable characters draw the viewer in, making for a consistently absorbing character study and compelling human drama.

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