Like its protagonist Andrew, Cha Cha Real Smooth only has warmth and goodness to offer, displaying a great flair for delivering the simplest of life-lessons without appearing too somber.
There is something unique about how Dakota Johnson uses her eyes to emote, that leaves you with a strangely soothing impact - a realization I stumbled upon during a scene in Caiper Raiff’s latest Cha Cha Real Smooth. As Domino (Johnson) looks at our protagonist Andrew during a late-night intimate conversation, there is a gentleness to her gaze that’s equally longing and platonic, as fervent in its desire as complacent with the distance.
Johnson makes great use of her gaze here in this film, coupled with her soft voice timbre, playing Domino, a 30-something single mother, with a disarming tenderness to her part despite occasionally saying the most mawkish of dialogue.
But it’s not about Domino alone - Cha Cha Real Smooth retains an infectious sense of freshness despite chartering very familiar terrains. It is primarily the story of Andrew, a 22-year college pass-out (played by writer-director Cooper Raiff himself), who is figuring out the big little changes in his post-college life, what with his girlfriend having moved to Barcelona and him yet having to decide on his career path. Cha Cha Real Smooth has all the usual tropes and cliches of a feel-good drama, but it also has a heart magnanimous enough to accommodate both the adolescent charm of a coming-of-age drama and the messy convolutions of an unlikely romance and seems quite comfortable with all of its threads.
In Andrew, Raiff creates a really lovable and warm protagonist who has all our heart, no matter what he does. Andrew is yet to attain clarity on his long-term goals and ambitions, and yet, as we see him go about his life and function in the outside world with such life affirmation and optimism, we immediately trust him to be someone who is partly there already, a lot closer to self-realization than others his age. It’s a coming-of-age trajectory for someone who is already pretty evolved for his age.
Just like Andrew, the film too only has warmth and goodness to offer. Sometimes, the goodness reflects in how sensitively it deals with its neuroatypical characters - like Andrew’s mother Lisa (Leslie Mann) whose bipolar disorder is treated with zero stigma and never overpowers her loving, supportive being, or Lola (played brilliantly by Venessa Burghardt), an autistic teenage girl who too is accorded great dignity in her conduct, never treated with condescension or pity. At other times, it shows up in how characters decide to deal with or talk about their problems. When asked at a buzzing party if her life gets too difficult as a single mother, Domino says yes, and yet ensures to clarify that none of it is because of her daughter Lola (who happens to be autistic)
There are also these little narrative surprises that keep the ball rolling. At times, The film hints at following Andrew finding his true calling as the central conflict - but then we keep going back to his personal journey as frequently. Later, things go wrong at Andrew’s first professional gig, and we expect things to escalate and bigger ramifications - but Raiff doesn’t rely on them to push his narrative further.
However, the film saves its biggest surprises with the two alpha-male figures it stages in the narrative who threaten to be the adversaries of our protagonist.
Andrew doesn’t get along well with his stepfather Greg (Brad Garrett), and it’s made abundantly clear to us in small portions throughout. In the few moments we see him up close, Greg exhibits all the traits we usually associate with a disapproving parent figure that every young soul loves to detest. Later, we are introduced to Domino’s fiance Joseph (Raul Costillo) who is mostly out of town due to work and looks quite unhassled with the long-distance, unaware of his longing fiance back home. Raiff too shows us Joseph from a distant POV, as this no-nonsense baritoned figure who doesn’t match the warmth or enthusiasm of the people around him - It then becomes easier for us to see him as a barrier, or a problem to be solved so that our protagonists could inch closer to happier, hassle-free lives.
However, we gradually realize that these men are far from being the problem. It takes a single line of dialogue from Greg to redeem himself as he says, “nobody hits my wife” explaining a sudden bout of physical retaliation at a party. On the other hand, Joseph always seems to have something on his mind, about the happenings in Domino’s life in his absence, and we keep expecting him to lose his cool or make things difficult in some way - but he never does. And while he never gets a personal moment of explanation like Greg, the audience still finds enough reasons to trust Joseph as a good person. Cha Cha Real Smooth, then, is as much a story about Andrew’s love for the two women in his life helping him understand better the men they hold close.
It is also a story of people sticking together and for each other in hard times, a running motif that beautifully comes across in how Andrew’s relationship with his mother and brother David evolves. The film begins with a moment of Lisa offering her son unconditional support and empathy, and after seeing Andrew offer himself to people without any expectations, it only makes sense when we see David express a similarly disarming gesture to his brother at a time of need.
The warmest moment of them all arrives when Domino finds it difficult to move out of a place without drawing too much attention - And this is when her tribe comes to her rescue, all of them donning a similar attire just so that she doesn’t stand out. It’s the single most heartwarming moment of this film that has nothing but love and empathy in its heart.
Some viewers might find themselves being skeptical about or holding the film’s cheery optimism against it, and it’s a valid personal choice to make - but with Cha Cha Real Smooth, I never felt like taking that lane. It helped me forget my cynicism for a while, and that’s plenty in these times.
Cha Cha Real Smooth is interested in saying the simplest of stuff with the least bit of fuss - and does a winning job of it.
BH Harsh is a film critic who spends most of his time watching movies and making notes, hoping to create, as Peggy Olsen put it, something of lasting value.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
"smooth" - Google News
July 03, 2022 at 12:38AM
https://ift.tt/j2bxGmk
Cha Cha Real Smooth is an infectious coming-of-age drama that wins us over with its kindness and empathy - Opinion News , Firstpost - Firstpost
"smooth" - Google News
https://ift.tt/GBV9Ph4
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Cha Cha Real Smooth is an infectious coming-of-age drama that wins us over with its kindness and empathy - Opinion News , Firstpost - Firstpost"
Post a Comment