Quite moving

Rating: 8/10 (25 December 2004)

I enjoyed the film a lot because - 1. it contained a touching romance plot - Donnie & the new girl in town, a vulnerable young woman who seems to die and does not deserve her death; 2. the supernatural character was completely enigmatic: this dimension of the plot cannot be boxed into a neat framework of explanation. Who is Frank ? Where did he come from ? What is he up to ? 3. some kind of scheme of poetic justice seems to be in operation - Swazye's character turns out to be evil, the "wicked" Donnie is actually vindicated for the viewer 4. the music at the end of the film was appropriately stirring, lending a tone reminiscent of the composer Henryk GÃ³recki's most moving work; 5. the viewer is wrenched out of the usual process of narrative expectations eg in which normality goes awry then is repaired by a hero: allowing the possibility of time travel enables Donnie to sacrifice himself to save the new girl. Nevertheless the story could loosely be called a tragedy, ending the film on a note of suicidal heroism, leaving the viewer with an implied statement of the nobility of man.
A friend recommended the film to me & he was right...