Richard Kelly's 'Donnie Darko' (2001) is 'Back to the Future' meets 'Final Destination' with a twist of 'Sixth Sense.'

Rating: 10/10 (26 April 2002)

SPOILERS! Rebellious highschooler Donnie lives with his yuppy, republican bourgeois family in quaint Middlesex, Iowa during the decline of the Reagan era (1988). Donnie's intelligence is `intimidating', but he has mental problems and visits an expensive psychiatrist, whose prescription Donnie neglects. Upon taking the pills Donnie encounters his imaginary friend Frank, a large, demonic rabbit. Frank saves Donnie from a mysterious 747 jet engine that demolishes his room, and Frank also informs Donnie that the end of the world will occur in 28 days, 6 hours, and 42 minutes from October 2nd, Halloween morning. The countdown towards tragedy commences, and Donnie's world becomes increasingly uncanny. He meets and `goes' with troubled new-girl Gretchen, and his hallucinations become more psychedelic. He has visions of time-lines (translucent spherical arrows that lead his family and friends into the future) and Frank influences him to commit acts of anarchy against his repressive private school and its manipulative counselor, Jim Cunningham. A costume party on the eve of Halloween leads Donnie and Gretchen to their nightmarish destiny, but horrified Donnie then travels back in time to remedy this tragedy with a sacrificial act of love.
The complex plot twists of Donnie's clairvoyant and telepathic dream are framed by the story of the final day in Donnie's ordinary life, and the film, as a whole is a sub-textual criticism against the hypocritical nature of republicanism in the late 1980's. Just before bedtime Donnie reluctantly takes his prescribed drugs while his father sneaks to the living room for some late night Bush, Dukakis debate coverage. George Bush Sr. tiptoes around and stumbles upon the issue of appropriated drug money in Panama, and Donnie stares at the American flag in his bedroom as he dozes off. At this point, supernatural elements appear and are articulated by superb cinematic techniques. A peculiar wide-angle shot portrays a school bus from behind, that seems to be laying on its right side. As the hit eighties song `Killing Moon' begins the camera rotates clockwise, tracks backwards, and pans left in one fluid motion as Donnie exits the bus. This shot is very disorienting for the viewer and symbolizes the temporal leap forward of Donnie's uncanny premonition. Then, three brilliantly choreographed long takes capture the essence of Donnie's conservative private school, an institution that reflects the repressive ideology and hypocritical nature of extreme capitalism amidst the post-Reagan era. The principle turns his head away from a bully snorting a key bump in the hallway, and outside five staff members are lined up in a way that represents an inverted bipartisan political spectrum. Motivational counselor of love and fear, Jim Cunningham represents the extreme cruelty of conservatism and is thus cast to the far left of the frame. Opposite Cunningham is the very liberal literature teacher, played by the lusty Drew Barrymore, to the far right frame. Frank influences Donnie to burn down Cunningham's house, which leads to Cunningham's arrest as a child pornography ringleader. Jim is hypocritical and manipulative, and his many exploits have yielded great economic success. Fast motion photography and fluxuating clouds constantly remind the viewer of the `worm hole' that Donnie has entered, but a camera rotating counter clockwise with speedy reverse motion photography brings Donnie back to his bedroom post-tragedy, and back to the frame story. On the morning of October 2nd Donnie awakens with hysterical laughter as he remains in bed reflecting on his dream. He is then killed by the mysterious 747 jet engine.