Way better than the average "adolescent angst" flick

Rating: Null/10 (18 April 2002)

I love films that poke fun at people with hidden agendas, with simplistically schematized views of the world, or whose self-respect comes from their jealously guarded reputations. It's not the main theme of Donny Darko; but, the central character is adroitly used as a foil against this background. He suffers from none of these social afflictions. The young Mr. Darko, exceptional in many different ways, is both troubled and gifted; the two, it seems, often go together. It's hard to tell whether Donny's `gifts' are derived from his mental problems, for which he needs therapy, and medication, or if his mental problems are a product of his gifts.
One of the reasons that the movie works so well is the way it plays with the possibility of alternate realities. It's like this: there are over ten dimensions, and we have access to three. Our senses, therefore, miss most of reality. Donnie Darko, however, has access, not specifically to another dimension, but to another reality. Is it the product of mental imbalance; or, is his `mental imbalance' the product of an unusual gift? `There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy' is the over-quoted line from Shakespeare. But it actually fits here. It's not possible to put Donny into anyone's box, least of all the `life line' boxes in which his Catholic high school tries to shove him.
One of the things that endear me to this film is the sensitivity with which the main character, Donny Darko, is treated. He's not a brash, swaggering, posturing, overcompensating young man, as is often the case in movies about adolescents on the cusp of manhood. Shy and somewhat retreating, he's not the type to cover his Adlerian sense of inadequacy with typical compensatory tactics. So it's a comical irony that this young man, seemingly so ill-adjusted, is in many ways healthier than his `normal' peers.
It's a gem of a movie, the likes of which comes along once in a great while.