There is a revealing moment in "Danika" where the protagonist is sitting in a psychiatrist's office, and the first point she makes to the doctor is that "I'm going crazy." This film is successful in revealing the darkest caverns of the human mind in the character of Danika.
Stylistically, the film was jumpy and made use of far too many confusing scenes wherein it was difficult to understand if the action was "real" or if it was one of Danika's hallucinations. For example, did the daughter truly read the book that was inappropriate for a sixth grader? Or was the entire sequence about the book a product of Danika's vivid imagination?
Another troubling feature of film was the relationship of Danika with her husband Randy. Throughout the film, Randy cares about Danika to the point of absurdity. At some point, he should have realized that she was endangering the family system and placing the three children at risk with her erratic behavior. Even the early scene where Danika broke a drinking glass in the kitchen should have been enough to alert the husband that an intervention was in order.
Another important scene early in the film was the sequence leading to the firing of Danika by her shrewd supervisor at the bank,, due to incompetence in Danika's work. The same realization should have come to Randy that his wife needed to be institutionalized, if only for the sake of the children.
While "Danika" was overly manipulative in its film technique, it is nonetheless worth seeing for the multi-dimensional performance of Marisa Tomei. It is an unforgettable performance.
Stylistically, the film was jumpy and made use of far too many confusing scenes wherein it was difficult to understand if the action was "real" or if it was one of Danika's hallucinations. For example, did the daughter truly read the book that was inappropriate for a sixth grader? Or was the entire sequence about the book a product of Danika's vivid imagination?
Another troubling feature of film was the relationship of Danika with her husband Randy. Throughout the film, Randy cares about Danika to the point of absurdity. At some point, he should have realized that she was endangering the family system and placing the three children at risk with her erratic behavior. Even the early scene where Danika broke a drinking glass in the kitchen should have been enough to alert the husband that an intervention was in order.
Another important scene early in the film was the sequence leading to the firing of Danika by her shrewd supervisor at the bank,, due to incompetence in Danika's work. The same realization should have come to Randy that his wife needed to be institutionalized, if only for the sake of the children.
While "Danika" was overly manipulative in its film technique, it is nonetheless worth seeing for the multi-dimensional performance of Marisa Tomei. It is an unforgettable performance.