‘Donnie Darko’ Review

The twisted vision of suburbia circa 1988 that is Donnie Darko made quite an impact at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, becoming one of the festival’s most talked about films.

Donnie Darko is an incredibly entertaining and mind-bendingly bizarre drama that follows a teenager as he attempts to come to grips with the theory of time travel and get answers to the existence of God, all while possessing the secret knowledge that the world will soon end. Oh, and he’s also battling an assortment of hallucinations and delusions. The film’s a dark coming-of-age tale told through a provocative script and superbly acted by Jake Gyllenhaal, along with a highly recognizable cast of supporting players. It’s strange and twisted, yet charming, thought-provoking, and highly original.

Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal) is a confused, mentally unstable teenager. Skipping his medication, Donnie is paid visits by Frank, a figure in a hideous bunny suit who delivers fatalistic coded messages. In one such message, Frank informs Donnie that there are just 28 days left in the world. Donnie passes this info on to no one, as everyone he could possibly tell already knows that he’s got mental problems.

The film chronicles Donnie’s life as he counts down to Frank’s apocalyptic deadline. During what may be the last month of life on Earth, Donnie falls in love, escapes being killed when an airplane engine part crashes through his house and lands on the bed he should have been sleeping in – had he not awoken to follow Frank – searches for answers on the probability of there being a way to travel through time, and pays visits to his psychiatrist. With the impending end of the world looming large in Donnie’s mind, he also becomes an outspoken critic of the town’s self-help guru, Jim Cunningham.

In a scene that plays out like a smarmy infomercial, Cunningham (Patrick Swayze) manipulates Donnie’s high school peers and teachers alike into believing in his nonsensical rhetoric. Donnie – perhaps feeling there’s not much worse that can happen to him than the world ending – fires question after pointed question at Cunningham during a school assembly. Later that night, with Frank’s assistance, Donnie manages to bring down Cunningham, exposing him for the self-righteous fraud that he is.

What exactly is Donnie Darko? First-time writer/director Richard Kelly purposefully wanted Donnie Darko to be a genre-busting tale that would mean vastly different things to different people. Kelly offers this explanation of the film: “Maybe it’s the story of Holden Caulfield, resurrected in 1988 by the spirit of Phillip K. Dick, who was always spinning yarns about schizophrenia and drug abuse breaking the barriers of space and time. Or it’s a black comedy foreshadowing the impact of the 1988 Presidential election, which is really the best way to explain it. But first and foremost, I wanted the film to be a piece of social satire that needs to be experienced and digested several times.”

Donnie Darko is an extraordinarily unique vision of love, family relationships, and the secrets of the universe. Writer/director Richard Kelly has created a provocatively imaginative, yet poignant, first feature.

GRADE: A-

Donnie Darko is rated R for language, some drug use, and violence. It opened in limited release on October 26, 2001.

(REVIEW ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: October 24, 2001)