Donnie Darko (2001)

It is an indication of the quality and originality of this low-budget sci-fi that, despite a poor performance in American cinemas, it managed to secure a place in the top 50 of a recent poll to find the greatest Sci-fi movie of all time. At first glance, an obscure film by a first-time director which has - for much of the film - few obvious sci-fi features, nestling alongside such films as Blade Runner and Alien might seem odd, but the accolade is well deserved.

The plot of Donnie Darko - American teenager (the eponymous Donnie) goes to High School. American teenager gets in trouble at school. American teenager meets girl, asks girl out, girl accepts. American teenage sees visions of giant demonic rabbit who prophesies the destruction of the world may seem initially familiar in some respects but, as can be seen from the last comment, the film quickly veers away from being a typical American high school story. As the movies goes on, the plot gets increasingly convoluted until an ending which answers some questions while leaving many more for the viewer to ponder. This is not a movie that believe in providing explicit explanations and long periods of contrived exposition. Watching the movie once might allow a viewer to get some idea of what is going on but this is one movie that definitely requires repeated viewing to make full sense of it. Fortunately the script manages this mystery while not being so confusing that the casual viewer would be too confused.

The essence of the story is that Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhal), a bright but erratic high school student who is on medication to deal with mental problems and frequently sleepwalks, starts seeing visions of Frank (James Duval), a giant rabbit. These visions start shortly before he miraculously cheats death when an aircraft engine falls out of nowhere onto his house. Frank tells Donnie that in 28 days the world will end and gives him several, seemingly unconnected, tasks to perform. As the movie goes on the behaviour of both Donnie and the people around him gets increasingly erratic, all leading towards the climatic ending.

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As well as being blessed with an unusually intelligent and thoughtful plot, the dialogue is also superbly written. The combination of good dialogue and some good performances by both the lead and supporting actors brings the characters around Donnie to life, even the minor characters tend to be interesting. There is also a healthy sprinkling of humour, although there aren’t that many jokes, those that are there are quite amusing.

Another thing to commend in the film is the cinematography, although shot on a low budget the (admittedly few) special effects look good and the direction is excellent. Some of the scenes, such as the speeded-up view of students entering the school are among the most memorable in the film despite not featuring any plot or dialogue. This is backed up by a good soundtrack, which complements the themes of the movie perfectly.

To summarise, this is an excellent movie, intelligent and very well made with a stunningly original plot. Perhaps the ending could have been a little less obscure, but other than that the film is virtually perfect. Not to be missed.

Rating : 10 / 10

DVD Review (Region 1)

As well as being a superb film, this also gets a superior DVD release. An impressive 20 deleted scenes add more depth to the plot, but the biggest attraction here is the Director's Commentary. Witty and insightful, this explains more about the film than you could ever notice by watching it as well as containing some amusing banter between director Richard Kelly and the film's star Jake Gyllenhal. There's also a second, inferior, commentary where the cast take it in turns to say how great they think the film and the director is. In addition DVD owners can squint at the screen to read the "Philosophy Of Time Travel" book mentioned in the film, as well as the more standard trailers and a music video. Add in a great picture quality for the film, and some nice animated menus, and this is a single-disc DVD release that puts most Special Editions to shame.

DVD Rating : 9 / 10

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All content ©2003 William Marnoch.

Comments? Agree/Disagree with the Reviews? Suggestions? Random Ramblings? Whatever you might want to say, feel free to e-mail me at william@wmarnoch.freeserve.co.uk .