Deeply touching, emotional and beautiful film

Rating: 10/10 (31 March 2002)

Contains Possible Spoilers...
The week I bought Donnie Darko was special to me: I first picked up Session 9 and was exhilarated by that, and then I bought Donnie Darko and was touched so much I had to watch it again, then again with the audio commentary....
This film manages to reach into us and pull out some strong emotions. It took me back to 1988 when I was losing many friends to AIDS, trying to find out where I belonged in the universe, and wondering just what the heck was going on around me. The songs chosen for Donnie Darko touched me as well, since not only did they fit each scene they were in perfectly, they were songs that meant a lot to me back then and now: from Echo And The Bunnymen, Tears For Fears, Joy Division, The Church, and Duran Duran. The new interpretation of Tears For Fears' "Mad World" is pure brilliance, I think that Tori Amos could have been the only other person to pull that one off (hear that, Tori? Give it a try....). The film's score as well could not have been more perfect, it managed to give the film more depth (as if that were even possible!).
For me, Donnie Darko was about many things, but the idea of sacrifice was very strong. I've been told that nothing is a coincidence and that we are all on a path, so the fact that Donnie went through all these ordeals and had to perform terrible deeds in order to place people on a certain path then sacrificing himself to actually save them (and the girl he loves).....WOW. When I saw the look on the Cherita's face near the end, I got it and I felt so overwhelmed. What would have been a good thing to leave in the film though would have been the fact that all the time Donnie was taking pills for his alleged schizophrenia (which he really wasn't), he was actually taking a placebo. Watching the deleted scenes brought many things to light. The people all waking at one moment at the end and feeling they remember SOMEthing, and the wave of slight recognition between Jena Malone and Mary McDonnell at the very end left me breathless.
The actors...so many wonderful people giving their all for next to nothing (this project was very much a labor of love). Some critics say Drew Barrymore appeared more than necessary, but I don't see it that way. She was a messenger and very pivotal to the story. When Noah Wyle looks at her and just says Donnie's name, her response of "Yeah..." means a hell of a lot more than one would realize. Mary McDonnell gets some extremely effective emotional scenes, Katharine Ross is a welcome sight as Donnie's therapist, and Beth Grant is always a joy! Patrick Swayze may seem like an odd choice to some, but that's why it works, and Jena Malone was a good choice. The lead as Donnie, Jake Gyllenhaal managed to have us like him despite everything he did. The shifts from regular to hypnotized to his expression when visited by Frank the bunny....what a range. He wasn't a bad guy after all, and you really see this when he tells Cherita that everything will be okay and he smiles at seeing his name written on her book cover. And that Cherita, played by newcomer Jolene Purdy...she was SUCH an important character to the story. I cried when I saw her sitting alone outside while the dance group Sparkle Motion swept the talent show glory. And as I mentioned, the look on her face near the end...
I still get emotional each time I view Donnie Darko, there is something very personal to this film that hasn't affected me so much since the 1985 Keith Gordon film Static. It's beautiful, sad, imaginative, expressive, emotional, dark, and very hopeful all at once.