Donnie Darko

Year: 2001
Running time: 113 minutes
Certificate: 15
Language: English
Screenplay: Richard Kelly
Director: Richard Kelly
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, James Duval, Holmes Osborne, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Daveigh Chase, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze, Beth Grant, Drew Barrymore, Arthur Taxier

Donnie, Gretchen and Frank take in a movie.

Donnie Darko has been an unusual viewing experience for me. I've seen it 3 times now. The first time, the experience could be summed up as 'meh'. Didn't really like it much, thought the line "Go suck a fuck!" was funny. It left little lasting impression. For some reason I can no longer remember, I ended up watching it for a second time, where I enjoyed it much more. Don't quite know what the difference was, but significantly different it was. The third time round I was eager to see it again to see if I had changed again, and I only loved it more. It's now a firm favourite.

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a bright yet troubled American high school student. He has a few friends and a family he just doesn't get on with. Donnie is awoken one night by a demon bunny named Frank (James Duval) and as a result narrowly escapes death when a jet engine falls out of the sky and lands in the bedroom he had just vacated. No-one but Donnie can see Frank, and the creepy-looking rabbit manipulates Donnie into carrying out a number of anarchic acts that have unforeseen consequences. He floods the school and meets Gretchen (Jena Malone) and starts a relationship. He is told about time travel and is led to a book about it by a teacher. Frank convinces Donnie to commit arson, burning down the house of Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze, clearly relishing playing against type). It turns out that Jim's house contains a hidden child porn stash.

Frank also warns Donnie about the impending end of the world, but this turns out to be on a smaller scale that you might think. Following a run-in with burglars on Halloween, Gretchen is accidentally run over and killed by Frank, dressed in a demon bunny costume, and is shot through the eye by a distraught Donnie in turn. This is the end of the world Donnie was warned about - warned by Frank, because it was the end of Frank's world.

Donnie tries to make sense of visions into another reality.

Except it isn't. When Donnie gets out of bed and avoids death-by-falling-jet-engine he sparks an alternate version of reality, which leads to these terrible events, and by the end he can see into the reality as is should be and is able to return to that moment. Given the choice, Donnie elects to preserve the original timeline, and stay in bad, getting crushed, thereby saving the lives of both Gretchen and Frank. Raise a glass to Donnie, unknown hero, sacrificing himself to save others.

In spite of a relatively minor budget, it is really wonderfully shot - a stand out scene being a dance performance by Sparkle Motion, a dance group of which Donnie's little sister Samantha (Daveigh Chase) is a member, set to Duran Duran's Notorious that is juxtaposed with Donnie's arson attack. It's entirely possible that setting a montage of shots to a piece of contemporary music is an overused trope in modern cinematic storytelling, both on TV and on the big screen, but when it's done well, it's wonderfully effective, and the final scenes of Donnie Darko are one of the best uses of it I've ever seen.

Sometimes it's worth giving things a second try and the way this has gone from underwhelming to one of my favourite films in three viewings is a case in point. Give it a try, and if you don't think much of it, give it another one.

Score: 9/10

There is a lot of interesting reading out there regarding Donnie Darko, in particular this piece arguing that the director's cut ruined it from the Supreme Being at Stand by for Mind Control, and this one from Greg at Little White Lies recalling how it literally changed his life, opening his eyes to a whole world of cinema.