I will begin my review of first-time writer/director Christy Hall’s Daddio by acknowledging this kind of film is admittedly my kind of thing. I love where you have a limited number of actors in a claustrophobic setting and you’re just watching a few talented people play off each other. If you’re lucky, if the film is good, it feels like you’re seeing two genuinely vivid people beyond what the actors are doing in their parts. And Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn are acting their asses off in Christy Hall’s dazzling debut Daddio.

An unnamed young woman (Dakota Johnson) grabs a taxicab from JFK to her apartment in Midtown Manhattan. Her cabbie is Clark (Sean Penn), and the two begin to talk. At first they talk about small things, petty grievances, but then start to talk about themselves. Who they are, what their relationships mean to them, what makes them happy, what they regret and what haunts them.

A chamber drama reminiscent of the Tom Hardy thriller Locke, but if it were really a therapy session, Daddio digs deep into both of its lead characters. These are both spectacularly realized characters, and while these two people could be literally anyone when we kick off, they both feel like people we care about very much by the time end credits roll. This is a film about the great importance of human connection, and how rare that is in the modern world. These two people from very different walks of life begin to realize there is more connecting us than separating us.

Johnson and Penn seem to be making the most out of this acting challenge where the whole thing is closeups on their expressive faces. You feel every thing they say, but every thing they don’t say, or want to say but don’t know how to. It feels like both of these people have fully developed lives outside of the story being told here. And while we’re not sure if these two characters ever see each other again when this story ends, this film is a powerful reminder of the impact this kind of connection can have.

The script is very specific and engrossing throughout. I also love the way this movie looks, the way the cinematographer uses shadow and reflections and the New York City setting is stunningly gorgeous. It’s not easy to make a film like this, which could so easily be a stage play, feel cinematic, and Hall pulls off that challenge with ease. It’s very possible this one will hit hard emotionally, there’s a strong chance this could devastate the viewer. But I feel like what they have gotten out of it by the time we wrap up will have been worth it. Daddio is an intimate yet deeply compelling two-hander, an acting showcase for two incredible performers at the top of their game.