Danika

I saw Danika's world premiere at the CineVegas film festival this past weekend. It was an excellent psychological thriller with many twists and turns. Marisa Tomei is exceptionally convincing in the lead role as a soccer mom tortured by visions which could be premonitions or hallucinations. The action in the movie intersperses tension-building dialog and dramatically shocking visuals with tremendous effectiveness. The supporting cast is also exceptional in the roles and convince you of the impact that Danika's visions are having upon them. Regina Hall is especially impressive as Danika's psychologist.

I would highly recommend seeking this movie out if it comes to a festival or theater near you!

This is one those movies that are hard to review , except for the fact that this is not a horror movie - at all. I guess I would call it a thriller, but that isn't quite right either. There's not much that can be said about the movie without spoilers so I won't.

It's actually pretty decent movie, well made. But at the same time it's a little boring and unfulfilling. I don't regret watching it, but it didn't leave me with any good feelings.

Danika Merrick (Marisa Tomei) is a troubled suburban mom married to Randy (Craig Bierko). She is hounded by confusing visions and treated by her psychiatrist Dr. Evelyn Harris (Regina Hall). One vision of a bank robbery gets her fired from her bank job. She has hallucinations of a dead girl and haunted by a school bus.

It's a confusing jumble about a troubled mind. It's a jigsaw puzzle that is always expected to come together. For a better result, the movie needs to present a more standard life with bad hallucinations. It can't be that jagged and jumbled. That way, the final reveal of the reversal is more compelling. There is an interesting reveal with Evelyn but the others are not that compelling.

Relatively new cinematic team of director Ariel Vromen and writer Joshua Leibner pounce onto the scene with a surprisingly fine little film that has basically gone unnoticed. DANIKA is a story that demands the viewer's careful attention and rewards that attention with a finely wrought surprise ending. This is a tough movie to review: almost anything that is said about it diminishes the impact of a fresh look.

Danika (the superb and grossly underused actress Marisa Tomei) is a beautiful, well-dressed successful professional woman, loved by her husband Randy (Craig Bierko) and her children Kurt (Kyle Gallner), Lauren (Nicki Prian) and Brian (Ridge Canipe). Yet even from the opening scenes we can tell something is amiss: Danika 'sees' disturbing things, terrifying events and people that alter her attention to her job and her family. She visits a young psychiatrist Evelyn (Regina Hall) who becomes her confidant - the only person who accepts that Danika is witnessing disturbing sights. A mixture of critical pieces of disastrous events flash before Danika's eyes as well as flashbacks to some years back when her children were young. Danika overcompensates for her fears by being an overprotective mother, an unfortunate trait that begins to fracture her family.

The pace of the film changes to rapid fire events as the reasons for Danika's visions become clear: we finally see just what made this brilliant and strong woman the victim of a terrified and disturbed psyche and the manner in which each of the characters in the story impacts this discovery is well-illuminated. The surprise ending scene is a stunner and one that will haunt the viewer.

Marisa Tomei makes this very difficult, well-written role completely believable. She is an actress of enormous gifts. Likewise the remainder of the cast offers such fine ensemble work that credit must be given director Ariel Vromen for being a young talent on the rise. Yes, there are some portions of the film that beg credibility but then that is what delusional thinking is about. This is a tight little film that deserves attention. Grady Harp

This is one of those movies that you stumble upon while streaming surfing and see Marisa Tomei, and if you love Marisa Tomei - as I do - you decide you'll give it a chance. Then as you continue to watch and see Tomei's great performance and a number of psychologically provocative scenes you begin to wonder "Wow.. this movie is great.. How come I've never heard of it."

And so .. yes.. watching this movie is like watching a train wreck.. and as the viewer desperately tries to sort out what's real and what's not real you can't help but want to see this movie to the end for the "reveal" that explains it all.

Unfortunately, the "reveal" was a huge let down. I was super enjoying the movie up to that point.. but then the bottom dropped out. And then at that point I now understood how this movie got relegated to the straight-to-video realm.

Sadly, this is the kind of movie that one could argue is "critic-proof" because nothing "needs" to make sense and large plot holes can be "forgiven" because none of it has to make sense in a fundamentally crazy mind. Very convenient.. right?

I was ready to give the movie is "7" or "8" but downgraded it wholly because of the ending.