CHAPERONE (2024) review

written by: Zoe Eisenberg
produced by: Zoe Eisenberg, G.B. Hajim, Devin Parnell Murphy & Alison Week
directed by: Zoe Eisenberg
rated: not rated
runtime: 99 min.
U.S. release date: January 19, 2024 (Slamdance Film Festival)

The older I get the more I realize that I didn’t know much when I was younger. That may seem obvious, but I’m a slow learner. It was especially true in my early twenties when I found myself struggling with what to do with my life. I wouldn’t say I figured it all out, but I found a way and it was largely based on surrounding myself with others my age or older and contributing to a community that was focused on serving others. Still, it was hard not to compare myself to where others my age were in life. I found myself thinking about while watching “Chaperone” a film from Hawai’ian writer/director Zoe Eisenberg that recently premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival.

“Chaperone” revolves around a 29-year-old woman named Misha (Mitzi Akaha), who has worked at a struggling local independent movie theater for so long that her boss, Kenzie (Jessica Jade Andres), is basically pleading with her to take a promotion. Showing no ambition or interest in changing her life, Misha shirks the responsibility that the promotion would bring. She says she’s content living in the house she inherited from her grandmother with her cat, but there are hints of underlying loneliness and feelings of failure based on other people’s expectations of where someone her age should be in life. All that is hidden by her easy-going exterior, sarcastic quips, and her overall youthfulness. It’s possible that to avoid facing responsibilities and fears, as well as making life decisions, Misha has convinced herself of this contentment.

One day she meets Jake (Laird Akeo), a handsome and charming high school runner while he’s in line to purchase a movie ticket. They flirt and something sparks. Misha thinks nothing of it. Not Jake. When he sees her again at a grocery store where he works, he approaches Misha and boldly engages in a conversation with her, despite her hesitancy.

Like most of what occurs in Misha’s life, the romantic relationship she develops with Jake is unplanned. It just happens. She allows it to happen. Somehow the kid doesn’t realize she’s pushing thirty. It could be hormones or naivete, or both. Either way, we think Misha should know better and she does, but maybe this relationship is freeing for her. She gets to be someone she’s not. Jake thinks she’s his age because she doesn’t necessarily act her age or because she was wearing a jacket from her high school when they met again at the grocery store. Nevertheless, the deception is Misha’s, and this whirlwind they embark on is founded on her reckless and selfish manipulation.

Their relationship lasts months as Jake continues his senior year and Misha continues the lies she has maintained. Eventually, Misha meets Georgia (Krista Alvarez), Jake’s mother, who is unusually accepting of Misha and supposedly does not suspect the age discrepancy between the two. Georgia emphasizes honesty and vulnerability and speaks to Misha in a puzzling confidentiality. Maybe it’s the friendliness and acceptance of life in the Hawai’ian islands, where the film is supposedly set (I had my doubts since the sound of coquí can be heard throughout the movie, which are frogs native to Puerto Rico). Still, I found it hard to believe a mother wouldn’t pick up something being a little off between her son and his girlfriend.

Inevitably, the secret will be revealed in such a story, but the question isn’t necessarily when, but how. Before Jake learns of the truth, others pick up on what Misha has done, but that’s only because they know her. Her brother, Vic (Kanoa Goo), who lives behind the gelato shop he owns, does the math not long after Misha introduces Jake to him. Kenzie also picks up on the truth and that’s because she (and Vic) live in the real world of adulting.

As “Chaperone” unfolds, it’s clear that Misha is not in the right place for any relationship, let alone an illegal one like this. She was chronically late for work and irresponsible even before seeing Jake. But once she’s in that relationship, all of that amplifies. She throws a party at her place for Jake and his friends, which ends badly after the cops show up. It helps that Kenzie’s husband is a cop, but not by much. Even her poor cat pays greatly for Misha’s actions.

At no point does Eisenberg condone Misha’s behavior nor does she condemn her. It takes a while, but after some tragic albeit sobering events, Misha has enough condemnation for herself. Mitzi Akaha’s role as Misha isn’t without its challenges. It’s one thing to inhabit a character that is arguably suffering from a case of arrested development, but Akaha winds up being quite convincing as we watch Misha get pulled into her unfortunate arch. While watching Laird Akeo as Jake (who admittedly looks older than a high schooler, which helps the story), I couldn’t help but be reminded of Charles Melton in Todd Hayne’s recent film, “May December”. The two actors kind of look alike, but more importantly they are playing characters in similar situations. No doubt, when more people see “Chaperone”, there will be comparisons to Haynes film and possibly Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Licorice Pizza”.

It’s true what the film’s poster says, “Chaperone” is not a love story. It’s a fascinating tragedy in the form of an overdue coming-of-age tale. Eisenberg confidently balances a variety of tones, such as irony and tension, while delivering an unsettling character study.

RATING: ***

An official release date for “Chaperone” hasn’t been announced yet, but the film did win the Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize recently during the Slamdance closing ceremony.