Promising director Richard Kelly's debut film is a journey of fate, faith and our ability to walk the thin line that separates these two

Rating: 9/10 (10 July 2007)

"28 days... six hours... 42 minutes... 12 seconds. That... is when the world... will end"  Frank, the giant bunny rabbit (from "Donnie Darko").
When I first learned about Donnie Darko, the film was already a two years cult classic. Of course it was a devastating flop at the box office, so many people didn't know what it was, or what it was about. But when a local Israeli radio station first played Gary Jewel's melancholy adaptation of the pop hit "Mad World" (taken from the movie's excellent soundtrack), the announcer spoke of a forgotten American film about a kid who encounters a vision of a giant bunny rabbit that tells him that the world is about the end unless he takes some severe actions to prevent it.
This all sounded surreal to me, and I decided to do whatever is necessary to put my hand on a copy of the film, and see what it's all about. And boy was I hooked. Jake Gyllenhall, in one of his earliest appearances (long before he started to become somewhat annoying), is Donnie Darko, the haunted teen who takes the impossible burden of fixing the world on his shoulders. Shortly after the film begins, a jet engine falls from a plane and crash lands into Donnie's bedroom. After eluding this freak accident, a sequence of bizarre occurrences revolving Darko begins to take place. Darko is led by his bunny-friend, Frank, to wreak havoc on his home town, supposedly in the interest of saving them (or something). Alas, it is not quite clear who this Frank bunny is, and why Darko is the only person to see him. This whole hallucinatory film takes place during the 1988 presidential election, but if you notice the voices in the background, you'll notice something went wrong with the alternate reality Darko is living in, and it is not the 1988 many of us would remember.
Whatever he was trying to pull, promising director Richard Kelly's debut film is a journey of fate, faith and our ability to walk the thin line that separates thee two. Gyllenhall's real life sister and a talent on her own right, Maggie, plays Darko's on screen older sister, and Daveigh Chase (The Ring, Lilo & Stitch) is the younger one. Also taking part in this wonderful indie film are 1980's legend Patrick Swayze (as a child molesting sports coach), Drew Barrymore (as Darko's teacher) and E.R.'s Noah Wyle.
If you manage to get your hands on this one, you won't regret it. The film's success is word of mouth in its full pride and glory  and an extremely justified one in this case.