no matter what they say: this is brilliant stuff

Rating: 10/10 (22 February 2003)

What a movie. I can see this is not for everybody. It takes some level of weirdness, intelligence and knowledge to accept this as entertainment. But if you have these characteristics, this is the best movie in years. It went straight in to my top 3 of all time favorite films. So many scenes I could watch a 1000 times. An example of a terrific scene: We watch Donnie go in to his school, all filmed in slow motion, by steadicam. All of it set to the Tears for fears song Head over heels. Watch this and see how it flows, perfectly in balance with the music. We see the girls outside practicing for the dance, which we see later on in the film. This is so brilliant, it's one of my favorite scenes ever.
Some say this film is pretentious and incomprehensible. It's not. It is supposed to make you feel confused. But it has a heart, it has wit and takes you into an other world. Want pretentious? want witless? See Magnolia. P.T. Anderson: this is how it is done...
A perfect 10.