More clever than the Butterfly Effect

Rating: 8/10 (29 March 2004)

First, I want to know how a Drew Barrymore movie got past me.
This is a very deep, intellectual demonstration of the inner workings of the human mind and imagination. This is a very good rendition of what happens to the gifted young who are not taught to keep their light hidden from the 'straights.' From time to time, one like Donnie Darko emerges from the primordial cesspool that is our genetic makeup; one who can see, hear and know of when's and where's which are not this reality.
Children like him are invariably medicated and caged...or worse.
While this is not the only movie to speak of children of this kind (Powder, Warlock 2, Firestarter, The Sixth Sense, and yes, even Harry Potter on some level), this has to be one of the most creative twists to this vein I've ever seen. This story is simply astounding.
This movie shows the human condition within our society. Why people sometimes make the really bad choices. How sometimes that "thing" in your head doesn't go off and scream "BAD FREAKING IDEA!" Why suicide sometimes occurs. Why sometimes a person would stop fighting for a better life and just...surrender to the one that is.
It also shows that by going back to undo the bad things in our lives, we will also undo the good, leave those who loved us feeling empty and alone, and somehow miss out on this reality and hopes of something better in the face of insurmountable odds.
I won't spoil this by telling the end. But wow...if this does not leave you feeling "disturbed," nothing will. This is every bit as quirky and darkly startling as "May." That's all I can say, except that this was one of the best movies of this kind I have ever seen.
On the B scale (which you don't notice, by the way), it rates a 9.1/10.
On the A scale, it rates a 7.7/10 from...
the Fiend :.