Genius

Rating: 8/10 (28 April 2014)

There is a kind of movie that calls out not merely to be experienced but to be solved. The plot coils back on itself in intriguing mind puzzles, and moviegoers send bewildering e-mails to one another, explaining it. Two weeks ago brought "Mulholland Drive," which has inspired countless explanations, all convincing, none in agreement, and now here is "Donnie Darko," the story of a teenage boy who receives bulletins about the future from a large and demonic rabbit.
Richard Kelly, the first-time writer-director, is obviously talented--not least at creating a disturbing atmosphere out of the materials of real life. His mysterious jet engine is a masterstroke. He sees his characters freshly and clearly, and never reduces them to formulas. In Jake Gyllenhaal, he finds an actor able to suggest an intriguing kind of disturbance; the character is more curious than frightened, more quixotic than eccentric, and he sets a nice tone for the movie. But somehow the control fades in the closing scenes, and our hands, which have been so full, close on emptiness. "Donnie Darko" is the one that got away. But it was fun trying to land it.