The decade between 19 and 29 is perhaps the most tumultuous time of anyone’s life. Each year brings on great change as you transition from adolescence to a fully formed adult. As anyone who is currently in their twenties can attest, this time period can bring immense joy and extremely low lows. You just hope that come 30, you will have your shit together. For Misha (Mitzi Akaha), a 29-year-old woman struggling to find her way, growing up feels overrated. This mentality leads her to pursue a relationship with a recently turned 19-year-old high schooler after a chance encounter.
Misha, living in a house inherited from her grandmother, doesn’t see a problem with working at the local indie theater and hanging around with her friends. Her easy going attitude is off putting to her peers, who are constantly asking Misha, “what’s next?” For Misha, her life is enough for her. These feelings of contentment are reassured when she meets Jake (Laird Akeo), a charming high school runner who she serves at the theater. When he assumes that she is also in high school, she goes along with the deception, allowing herself to get romantically involved with him. What plays out is a whirlwind love affair that is clouded by trickery, manipulation, and recklessness.
Writer and director Zoë Eisenberg crafts a warm, grounded approach to this relationship. Misha and Jake’s love affair could be percieved as loving and sweet during their scenes. The documentary style camerawork emulates a very realistic, romantic aesthetic. Eisenberg then effortlessly weaves in seeds of Misha’s wrongdoing without ever blatantly stating so. Misha’s offhanded comments to Jake about skipping practice or lying to his mom are said quickly and without malice, but any audience watching will cringe at the manipulation. Misha’s own perception of an innocent affair blur the lines she has undoubtedly crossed. She never takes into consideration that she is dating someone who is ten years younger than her, thus having significantly less life experience. Jake still has a foot in childhood, while Misha has been clinging to wisps of youthful irresponsibility for years.
It is clear why Misha is so drawn to Jake. As a teenager about to graduate high school and start his own journey of self-exploration, Jake has no judgment on Misha. She feels a great relief in being around him because he has no expectations of her. Her willful ignorance of the effect she has on him is what makes Misha an incredibly difficult character. As an adult, Misha should know the influence she holds over someone so young, but if she does, she never acknowledges it. Instead, she lives out a gleeful romance with reckless abandon, unconcerned with the repercussions that will happen when Jake eventually discovers the truth.
Misha’s relationship with Jake is not the only indicator of her immaturity. Frequent occurrences of lateness and lying to her coworkers and friends are apparent throughout the film. With each criticism Misha receives, she tosses them aside with an eye roll and a sarcastic comment. It is clear Misha feels that everyone is being too hard on her. Any young adult can relate to those very feelings of failure if you feel you are not “succeeding” at a certain point in life. That relatability to Misha allows the audience insight into her decision making, however flawed it may be.
When the film does reach its tipping point, Misha must finally face the fallout of her actions. Not only in endangering a high schooler, but also in all of the terrible things she has done to her friends out of her own carelessness. Though the final scenes can be left up to interpretation, “Chaperone” is a smartly executed tale of growing pains. Eisenberg’s confident direction is clear in the depiction of Misha. The foresight put into the framing of the story makes for a very uncomfortable, yet thought provoking runtime. With the romance at the center and Misha’s manipulations lurking in the background, Eisenberg is able to tell a very raw story of an inappropriate relationship.
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