Donnie Darko (2001)

director: Richard Kelly

writer: Richard Kelly

starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal,James Duval, Jena Malone, Daveigh Chase, Drew Barrymore

genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

How many films have you have seen that really left you with the simple following thought "what the hell... maybe I should go back and re-watch this, maybe I should read between the lines or maybe i should focus more on the film and let nothing distract my attention to this masterpiece". Well with the exception of the recent masterpiece Inception maybe not that many times do those specific thoughts happen. Donnie Darko is one of those films that requires our attention because of the mystery that surrounds it!

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) a teenager with some mental disorders who sees a psychiatrist and takes some medication has his life changed after a weird incident. One night he wakes up after hearing some strange voice, he sleepwalks out of his house where he meets a weird giant bunny rabbit Frank(James Duval )that tells him that the world is going to end in in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds while he was out sleepwalking something crashed into his house. The next morning having woke up walks back to his house where he finds it is being surrounded by firemen,the police and his family. His parents and his sisters Elizabeth (Maggie Gyllenhaal yes she is his sister in real life as well) and Samantha (Daveigh Chase) are surprised and happy to see him because a jet engine crashed to his room with no one knows how it really happened or where it came from. Things from there are taking a weird turn where Donnie sees more often Frank where he tells him what he should do changing Donnies personality and somehow manipulating him.

The acting in the film is wonderful as you really feel how troubled is the role of Donnie. In other words Jake Gyllenhaal plays his role damn good !You see him in love with his girlfriend (Jena Malone) you see him troubled being haunted by the nightmares/visions that he is having and you see him going psycho.Overall the whole cast plays great excluding some minor exceptions, but nothing is perfect in this world right?. The movie takes place back in 1988 and director Richard Kelly did a great job representing the late 80s also the soundtrack of film is fantastic!

I could keep writing but that would be a crime as I am keeping you away from such a great film! And I may accidentally throw some spoilers (how accidentally can that be anyway??) so find the movie, turn off the lights and focus on it! It really deserves your attention!

 

Personal Rating:

Review by G L

P.S. If anybody has the chance to see this film it would be my recommendation to see the Directors-Cut instead of the theatrical cut. The differences are minor but substantial. Enjoy!

P.S. by Paul