One of the best I've seen

Rating: Null/10 (13 April 2004)

I had to force myself to intentionally skip the user reviews for this movie, because I knew if I read them I would spend my own review simply railing against anything negative anyone might have said about this towering achievement.
Now that I'm here, I realize I don't have a hell of a lot to say. How about this for a review: See this movie. If you grew up a weird kid in a styrofoam suburban high school, it will give voice to dreams and fears that can be hard to get in touch with. If you didn't, it might give you some small insight into the minds of those of us who did.
The story has a surrealist feel, and it becomes a little bit of a science fiction story in the end, but that doesn't take away from this central fact - I AM Donnie Darko. It doesn't get much more realistic than that.
As an amateur writer/filmmaker, seeing this movie gave me a feeling like I get when I read Michael Chabon - a deep, exquisite pain in a place that knows that if I live forever, write forever, I will never be able to produce something like this, that cuts so close to the heart of everything familiar, yet remains edgy and unsettling at the same time. I'm glad someone had the talent to make this movie, and I can't wait for the next one.