Donnie Darko (2001)

Interesting movie with several readings.

As with 2001: A Space Odissey, it is needed a reading of the actual explanation for the events to fully understand the original idea ... if you are interested in such explanation ...

***Cult flick with sophisticated themes, great cast, but meh story***

Released in 2001 and written/directed by Richard Kelly, "Donnie Darko" is a drama/fantasy starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a troubled California teen dogged by apparitions of a man in an evil rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit several crimes, after he narrowly escapes a peculiar accident concerning a jet engine falling from the sky. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays his sister, Holmes Osborne & Mary McDonnell his parents, Drew Barrymore his teacher, Katharine Ross his therapist, Jena Malone his girlfriend, Noah Wyle his science teacher and Patrick Swayze a self-help guru. Patience Cleveland is on hand as Grandma Death.

While the movie flopped at the box office, it has since become a serious cult hit. I saw it recently for the first time and went into it cold without knowing anything about the intricacies behind the plot. The only thing I knew was that the kid was harassed by an ee-vil bunny apparition. The film mildly works as a high school drama with a satirical smirk. But the story's just not engaging enough on that level. While the movie has some quality women, it fails to capitalize on their presence (Barrymore, for instance, is barely in it). But Jake is a solid protagonist, even somewhat sympathetic despite the curious things he does.

By the middle of the second act I found myself getting bored with the story and trying to figure out what was going on, but the film perks up in the last act, particularly when it reveals the truth about the scary bunny guy. After viewing, my overall impression was that the story never really took off and was burdened by perplexing ambiguities even while possessing some fascinating elements. I came up with a theory to explain the events (explained below) but, upon reflection, I realized that all the pieces didn't fit. And the movie simply wasn't entertaining enough to bang my head further trying to figure it out. I would've given the movie a mediocre 5/10 rating, but after investigating the official meaning and the alternative explanations I had to admit that the film is genius in this respect. It just needed to be attached to a more interesting story with more stimulating characters.

The film runs 113 minutes, which is the version I saw; the Director's Cut runs 20 minutes longer. It was shot in Los Angeles and surrounding areas (Angeles National Forest, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Santa Clarita, Burbank & Calabasas).

GRADE: B-

ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY (***SPOILER ALERT*** Don't read unless you've seen the movie):

My casual interpretation turned out to be one of the alternative explanations of the movie, the so-called "Donnie Is Shown the Future" explanation, which suggests that Donne is shown the future via the future ghost of Frank and so he sacrifices himself at the end to save everyone. But, as noted above, there are too many holes in this interpretation.

A couple of other popular explanations are the banal Schizophrenia Theory, where the film shows the protagonist going through an episode of his illness, and the Dream Theory, where it was "all just a dream," which is too clichéd and idiotic to even consider.

The 'official' interpretation I would've never pieced together because it's just too sci-fi-oriented and complex: It's the Tangent Universe Theory, which suggests that time in the Primary Universe (i.e. reality) is occasionally corrupted and an unstable alternative universe is created, but it will only last a few weeks. Nevertheless, it threatens to destroy the universe. The events you see happening in the bulk of the film are this alternative reality where the universe (or God) is correcting the error to get back to the Primary Universe using an Artifact (the jet engine), The Living Receiver (Jake Gyllenhaal), a Manipulated Dead person (the bunny guy), and so on. Google it and you'll see that the Tangent Universe explanation ties up all the loose ends.

A complete mind-bender of a movie that put Jake Gyllenhall on the map, introduced the creepiest rabbit costume of all time, and may make you surprisingly tear up to a remake of Tears for Fears "Mad World."

**A strange film, with a strong visual impact and a script with wild theories, but which fulfills its objective very well and is enjoyable to watch.**

I saw this film very recently, and I have to agree with all those who label it “strange” or “bizarre”. Directed and written by Richard Kelly, it stars a young Jake Gyllenhaal and offers us a very complex plot where a young teenager commits several crimes under the influence of an imaginary friend who dresses up as a rabbit. Everything indicates that this young man is schizophrenic or psychotic in some way, and has developed several linked obsessions, but the film always leaves us in doubt as to whether he is, in some way, right about the things he thinks.

There are several films that follow similar scripts, where imagination and psychopathy are almost indistinguishable from reality (“Fight Club”, “Machinist”, etc.) and this is perhaps one of the most surreal because it allows us to see, from the beginning, that something is very wrong. That's a bonus for those who like these types of films because it's easy to keep our attention. Of course, those who are less fond of cinematic oddities won't have much reason to be satisfied.

And if it is true that, on a technical level, the film does not present any major innovations or surprises, it is also true that it does everything very correctly and without problems or gross errors. We can even say that, considering the budget, it is one of those films that seems more expensive than it is. In addition, we must also mention the beautiful performance of the cast, where each one seems to do what needs to be done with correctness and restraint. Gyllenhaal has the right strength and charisma for his role and does an excellent job, and Jena Malone proves to be an intelligent and well-considered addition.

Jake Gyllenhaal is the eponymous teenager who just doesn't really fit in. Ever since he was a young child, he has struggled and it's only "Gretchen" (Jena Malone) who has anything to do with him. It's maybe on the psychiatrists couch that he seems most able to relax - under hypnosis - and under that influence we embark on quite a curious learning curve that follows "Donnie" from childhood through the turbulence of his adolescence. Now his development might not have been helped by the arrival of an aircraft engine through his roof, so his body's self defence mechanisms seem to be seeking solace from his friend "Frank". No, he's not real - well not unless life-sized bunnies have escaped up the looking glass, and when he is told that the world will end in just short of one month's time, then it's time to find his psychological TARDIS - or as near as he can. Why did he survive the accident? Well that's the question that continues to plague him as his torments mount and his frustrations begin to manifest themselves in petty criminality and a testing of his relationship with his only real friend "Gretchen". Now I don't know about you, but until now I'd never thought of bunny rabbits as being the least menacing. Think "Thumper" from "Bambi" (1942) and that's about it. Here, though, auteur Richard Kelly uses the light - well mostly the dark - to create quite a sense of peril as young "Donnie" seems to lose what little grasp of the plot he ever had. It's also quite darkly comical at times, with the rather potent script treading a line between fact and fiction in an engagingly blurred fashion. Gyllenhaal plays the part well, adding a vulnerability to a role that is quite difficult to define and as we progress, well some of our earlier assumptions become just a little more fluid. The haunting Gary Jules version of the Tears For Fears "Mad World" song tops a strong 1980s soundtrack and the whole film has an ethereal eeriness to it that I did quite enjoy.