Darkly-funny, mind-boggling and intriguing! This genre-twisting fantasy ranks right up there alongside such original movies as "Memento" and "American Beauty".

Rating: 10/10 (13 May 2002)

Who is Donnie Darko?
That is the question raised in the provocative indie-film, "Donnie Darko". One of the most-talked-about movies at last year's Sundance Film Festival, this modern-day fantasy combines suburban drama with dark comedy and gives it a little sci-fi twist for a film that is unlike any other. What makes the film so one-of-a-kind is that it takes you into the mind of this unique teenager, Donnie Darko, as he sets off on what star Jake Gyllenhaal describes as "a fantastic journey through dreams, sadness, comedy, and madness" in order to discover who he truly is, learning more and more as time passes by "that every little thing he does counts on a cosmic scale."1
For writer/director Richard Kelly, Donnie is an intelligent, but delusional young man whom, he claims, "has a lot of big problems and a lot of big ideas." Some of his problems include sleepwalking in the middle of the night and seeing hallucinations of things that are not really there all the time. One of these hallucinations is a monstrously eerie bunny rabbit named Frank. He appears to Donnie one night, standing outside his house, and tells him that the end of the world will come just in 28 days. The next morning, Donnie comes home to find his family standing outside their house, with everyone in the neighborhood watching as a large crane lifts out a jet engine that had crashed into Donnie's bedroom just a few short moments after his departure. Without any clue where this thing had come from, we see later that fate had something other in mind for Donnie. Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays Donnie Darko, says that its through this "incredible experience that he comes to truly understand who he really is and the effect he has on other people."
From then on, Donnie begins to look at both his life and the world around him from a dark and terrifyingly apocalyptic perspective. After he credits Frank the bunny with having saved his life, Donnie feels that he is obligated to listen to whatever Frank has to say to him and do whatever it is he tells him to do without question. Frank allows Donnie to see that, under the veneer of society, lies something not at all right with the world. He helps Donnie try to understand all the "secrets and lies surrounding him"1, and convinces him that he has the ability to adjust them by simply changing the course of history.
Unlike other movies that urge people to find their place in the world, "Donnie Darko" challenges them to question their existence, about who they are and what is their purpose in life. It shows us that we have to determine for ourselves what we believe in and that everyone should learn to follow his or her own dreams. Nancy Juvonen, one of the film's executive producers, says that one of the many things she thought was inspiring about Donnie was the fact that he really believes "anything is possible and that he can make a difference by making his own decisions and doing things the way he sees them." "And that's what makes you follow him," adds co-star Drew Barrymore, who also served as an executive producer. "Even though he goes into alternate worlds and questions the rules of the universe, Donnie Darko's experiences at school, with his girlfriend, with his family and in his dreams seem incredibly true to life."
So, the question remains, who is Donnie Darko - a hero, a rebel, a genius, a prophet, a schizoid, a messenger, or a menace to a society? The concept of who this boy is Â– it is all very strange. Even his name makes you wonder about him. "Its really unique," says Gyllenhaal, saying that you have to "discover what it means for yourself." The producers of "Donnie Darko" say that through repeated viewings, you begin to develop a deeper understanding of the film. Being that I have seen this movie about a dozen times already, I couldn't agree more. I found that the more times I watched it, the more I understood how Donnie is a little bit of all these things. But don't take my word for it. See the movie and decide for yourself. Rating: 4 out of 4 stars
References Used (this is where I took my quotes from):
1. From the production notes provided by the film's distributor, IFC Films.