You don't spend the runtime starring at the same picture either. That doesn't hinder the film at all, but instead, carries with it a realism that mirrors what we've had to deal with every day for the past year. Morales and Duplass have written a film that's natural and conversational in its flow, even despite the sometimes choppy connection or fuzzy picture. She becomes a part of his routine, and since Adam already knows Spanish from his youth, they can carry discussions in both languages. The lessons, he thought, were just for a day, but Cariño (Morales), an online Spanish teacher in Costa Rica, has been paid to give him one lesson a week for 100 weeks. Adam (Duplass), having just been surprised with Spanish lessons by his husband Will, stands in front of his computer in his underwear as a stranger looks embarrassingly back at him. We've all heard the awkward - or just plain horrific - Zoom stories, and Language Lessons starts by playing with that same awkwardness. Morales' feature debut – co-written by both her and Duplass, who previously worked together on the HBO series Room 104 – looks at a connection that grows into something rarely explored on screen: a platonic love story between a man and a woman. Its premise is one we can all relate to, and, by not bringing the pandemic into play, the film will likely retain its relevance long after the pandemic. But more than that, it's a narrative about forging connection through technology.

The film is, on the surface, about someone taking online classes. Filmed while its two stars, Natalie Morales and Mark Duplass, were stuck at home during quarantine, it refreshingly doesn't acknowledge what's going on outside.

Language Lessons, on the other hand, is unlike other COVID-era Zoom movies, despite its similar backdrop. 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. 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.

These are films set in lockdown, whose plots deal with the pandemic, shot in one location or on Zoom. The COVID-era movie feels like its own genre at this point.

Shudder zoom movie