A Breathtaking, Thought Provoking Classic

Rating: 10/10 (26 July 2003)

Donnie Darko. If you just read the name of this amazing movie, you can understand that it's dark, and by dark, I mean seriously DARK. It is a very nice change to see a teen movie that isn't brainless and stupid, although Donnie Darko is no teen movie. Donnie Darko is one of the most mind-twisting movies there is. One can even compare it to the one and only Mullholland Dr., though it is not as complicated. Donnie Darko is one of those classic small masterpieces that didn't get enough recognition as it deserved.

Having an in-depth story of a teenage boy going through different changes in his life, Donnie Darko also focuses on the arts of philosophy, psychology, and time traveling. The movie starts off with Donnie having a hallucination of a strange insect-like bunny who predicts the end of the world. By taking this information, Donnie automatically takes responsibility into his hands. This insect-like bunny is then said to be one of Donnie's many hallucinations for he has mental problems and visits a psychiatrist, to which he explains what he is feeling through hypnotism. On the way to his comprehension of what the bunny tried to say, Donnie meets Gretchen, another teenage new girl at his school who's mother has been abused by her father and so was forced to change school and town. Donnie mixes his feelings about her with all the other strange feelings he starts having about the people in his life. One of these, a depressed overweight Chinese girl called Cherita, who likes Donnie but refuses to say anything and who is constantly teased. At the same time, his school features a lectures by a 'feeling-expert', who tries to show these teenagers how to divide their anger from their love. As the story evolves, the days become numbered until the so said, end of the world and Donnie searches and finds a banned book featuring Time Travel. By using this element, Donnie tries to stop the dreadful event from happening and at the same time tries to prevent a tragedy in his private life from revealing.
Jake Gyllenhaal gives a spectacular performance as the trouble-filled Donnie. The young actor unfortunately has been very underrated with his acting ever since he played in Bubble Boy, a dumb and very silly comedy. His portrayal of Donnie is very convincing and makes you feel compassion for the character. Gretchen is played by the rising star Jena Malone, who first played in the Julia Roberts hit Stepmom and the tear-jerker Life As A House. Jena's Gretchen is an amazing character which makes you fall in love with her. Amongst the cast are also Drew Barrymore who plays Donnie's literature teacher and who once again gives an excellent performance.

Richard Kelly's direction is simply brilliant. Mr. Kelly fixes up such an atmosphere as to actually scare the audience. Some of the scenes with Donnie's insect-like bunny hallucinations are quite freaky. Richard Kelly has successfully captured the essence of filmmaking by creating this hell of a film, which is also his first feature length movie.
The visuals are outstanding. As I noted before, Richard Kelly creates an atmosphere with his breathtaking visuals. The cinematography is excellent giving us a rather dark and mysterious movie. The editing is very special, but it manages to capture the whole idea of the movie's symbolism which is actually pretty good. Since the movie is based on the 80's, you can expect good music, and this good music is edited quite well with the scenes and simply 'hits' you and so you have a desire to watch the movie over and over again.
Overall, Donnie Darko is an instant modern classic that needs to be recognized more by the rest of the movie audience. A movie that gives us a blend of horror, psychology, symbolism, comedy and drama, Donnie Darko is a fantastic movie.
Savvas Stavrou's Rating: 10/10 - A Modern Classic