Donnie Darko

This is probably one of the strangest, hardest to understand film that has ever been released; in the confusion stakes it is up there with ‘Memento’ and ‘Solaris’. Everyone has a theory or an idea about the concept and they never seem to be the same, and this is why this film must be seen.

It starts off with strange questions and ends with strange questions and is a total mind f**ck in between. We wonder why does Donnie wake up in the middle of the road miles out of town? What has he done in the past that makes this seem normal? Clearly he is a troubled kid, he is in therapy, was held behind at school and his parents don’t know what to do with him. His is also lead out of the house by a giant rabbit called Frank on the same night that his room is crushed by a falling jet engine, what is going on there? But saying all this he is incredibly bright and picks up on arguments and points that no one else in the town thinks of.  From the start it all just gets weirder and weirder with the film looking at life and death, love, time travel, fate, alternative realities and all manner of things that would make a philosophy student’s head hurt. It is very difficult to get your head around it all and you find yourself questioning everything, especially after the 3^rd or 4^th time you see it.

Donnie is played by Jake Gyllenhaal and is one of his best known and biggest cult roles to date. He has since become a great actor with films like ‘Brokeback Mountain’ and ‘Zodiac’, an action hero thanks to ‘Prince of Persia’ and an all round heartthrob, but for many he will always be that weird kid Donnie Darko and that says something about the following this film has. Gyllenhaal also acts alongside his older sister Maggie who plays his on screen sister Elizabeth and the two create some good sibling chemistry. The rest of the cast are also all very good, with Drew Barrymore playing a liberal English teacher, Patrick Swayze as the influential speaker who has a dark secret and Beth Grant as the overly conservative PE teacher. Every character in the film feels like he or she is playing several different pats, the part that fits in with the story, but also a representation of America or maybe of a bible story or maybe something else, I don’t exactly know what, but there certainly feels as if there is more to everyone than meets the eye.

What truly makes this film a ‘must see’, above the story and actors, are the twists, turns and messages that it is layered with. There are jabs and digs at overly conservative America, there is the demonstration that everyone, even the admired, has a secret or two they want to hide and there is the concept that everything we do will have effects that we can not even begin the imagine. The plot also looks at life and death and what takes us from one to the other. Whatever you take from it you will feel compelled to talk about it afterwards; surely what every good movie should do. Each and every viewing will inspire a conversation or argument that is different to one you have had before and even if you never know what actually happens it is good to discuss it. For those who are interested writer and director Richard Kelly has his own theory on what the film is about and it can be found on the Donnie Darko Wikipedia page. Some might find it satisfactory while others will prefer their own ideas and would happily argue with Kelly himself about it.

Personally I feel that Donnie Darko is like ‘Lost’ where the unknown theory is better and more interesting than the known reality. There is no doubt that the film deservers to be seen and must be seen by everyone. You may like it, you may hate it, but you will definitely have something to say about it.

Degree- 2:1

If you like films that mess with your head and don’t

give you all the answers straight away you will love this,

otherwise it might be best to avoid it.

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