Film Technique analysis

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2003)

Review: It's October 1988 and Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a troubled teen on medication who sleepwalks right out of his house on some nights. He also suffers from visions of a man in a grotesque rabbit costume, a harbinger of doom who tells him that the world will end in twenty-eight days
There are many things going on with the movie Donnie Darko, but I will attempt to describe one of the central ideas.
Donnie Darko shows being at odds with a conformist culture that labels people (`Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?'). This film is generally presented this way with film elements such as low key lighting, and melancholy songs, such as `Mad World'.
Low key lighting, in scenes when Donnie Darko is talking to Frank to Frank, helps to bring out the dark side of Donnie. Low lighting is important because it shadows the room and Donnie's face while Frank gives him extreme non-conformist ideals. For example in the first mirror scene when Donnie talks to Frank, then Donnie takes an axe and goes to the school, and breaks the water pipes, then puts the axe in the head of the school's mascot. This shows Donnie Darko being against his school, which is a major conformist place.
Another film element used in Donnie Darko is music. During the film the music kind of gives you a feeling of conformity, being the same old type of music. But the song at the end of the movie I think stands out the most, because it's different. The song at the end is called `Mad World'. It's sung by Gary Jules, but it's a Tears for Fears original. Part of the song that reflect the movie would be the beginning `All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces'. That part goes with the movie, because it's like Donnie seen all the same people, and places, and he is tired of it all. One part that talks about conformity would be `Made to feel the way that every child should, sit and listen, sit and listen'. The whole time the song is playing it's showing some of the main characters, and you get a since of their problems, which are due to conforming; they never got to do what they wanted to do, or what they should have done.
I liked the way they showed the theme of a conformist society in Donnie Darko. There are more themes to this movie than just what I picked out, but conformity was the theme that I picked out the best, and that I would attempt to explain the best. This was Richard Kelly's first film, and I think the ideas he got out in this film was pretty good for a first time film maker.