How did this sneak through?

Rating: 10/10 (28 October 2001)

Donnie Darko is just the type of film that flies in the face of people who say such things like "That type of movie could never be made now." Controversial, if for no other reason than it's timing, Donnie Darko defies moviemaking reason. It's complicated, dark and by no means leaves you feeling any more comforted by the end.
I think the beauty of this film is compounded by the fact that it's arrival was completely unheralded and so, therefore, I will be brief without thrashing out too much that might be considered 'hype' or a 'spoiler'. Director Kelly has sculpted this film with the same suburban veneer and buried menace that Lynch had in BLUE VELVET. Consider it this year's AMERICAN BEAUTY if the indie world dug it a few feet deeper and scraped all the shine off it.
This film will haunt you...it's managed to be frightening, dramatic, but, seemingly more importantly, able to channel a sense of dis-ease and loneliness that has been hard to identify on film. You are at once sympathetic and adoring of the protagonist and, yet, find yourself completely afraid of what he might do next.
Once again, in the wake of so many recent tragedies and the given anxiety of the culture, one wonders how this gem snuck through