Always the second fiddle!

Daddio (2024)
Director & Screenplay: Christy Hall

This movie would not have hit my radar if Qantas had not apologised to its passengers on a flight to Tokyo for a mistaken screening. A glitch in the system made only this movie being screened in all in-flight entertainment for a whole hour. Qantas specifically apologised to the children for the mistake. The apology must have been because it must have been boring as hell for them. And also perhaps because of two ‘unholy’ sexting images of an erect phallus and a full display of a pair of mammary glands in their full glory. 

Not that I am complaining. It is a well-made drama that discusses a very mature subject- what either gender expects in a relationship. This conversation occurs during a cab journey from JFK airport to Manhattan between a twice-married cab driver and his passenger, a 30-something confident lady who is a mistress to a married man with kids. That is it. It starts with the lady (Dakota Johnson) entering Sean Penn's yellow taxi and ends when they reach their destination. It is all conversation and text messages. Now we know why Qantas had to apologise to the kids! - for kids telling their parents, “I am bored!" and parents unable to give them an alternative. Returning from her hometown after a visit to her sister's, Dakota is travelling to her apartment. A kind of nosey cab driver, Penn, starts to strike up a conversation with Dakota.  

After a few cursory topics, they open up about each other's private lives. The highlight of their chat is what each other expected or had expected in their lives. Pretty soon both become all so philosophical, especially Penn. At one moment, Dakota was reevaluating her whole imbroglio with a married man and its repercussions. A married man with an affair is in it just for sex. He will never give up his family so that his mistress can have a fairytale-like, happy ending forever and ever. Period. A confident, self-sustaining female may have her dreams and targets in life, but having her lover all to herself will not be successful. She will always have to play second fiddle and the scorned home wrecker. An interesting watch. 4/5.

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