Vivid imagery, absorbing yet disturbing

Rating: 5/10 (13 April 2005)

Donnie Darko is an absorbing movie that captures your attention and doesn't let go until the movie ends  in fact it holds on much longer than that! My vote of five (5) only indicates that I would not choose this movie for entertainment purposes  but the movie is probably an excellent movie for this genre. In fact, when the movie was over I was left with a feeling of not really knowing what was part of Donnie's visions and what was the reality of the movie. The movie was full of imagery that left me with a disturbing feeling and probably caused me to have the nightmare I had the night following watching the movie. Donnie Darko is played by Jake Gyllenhaal who does a good job of portraying a teenager who is searching for answers and is disturbed by what is happening to him. Beth Grant play Kitty Farmer an absolute disgustingly over-righteous teacher who has been drawn into a simplistic answer for life's problems being pushed by the infomercial type snake-oil salesman Jim Cunningham played pretty well by Patrick Swayze. Drew Barrymore plays Karen Pomeroy, a teacher that is trying to challenge her students to think about the meaning of things, methods which lead Kitty Farmer to call for the ban on some books.