Dir. Richard Kelly, US, 2001, 108 mins
Cast:
Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze
"Donnie Darko? What the hell kind of name is that? It's like some sort of superhero or something."
"What makes you think I'm not?"
The nature of Donnie Darko, both the film itself and its eponymous protagonist, has fuelled many a heated argument since its unveiling at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. The debut feature from writer-director Richard Kelly, having received a theatrical release in the UK towards the end of last year, is already being spoken of in the same reverent tones that are usually reserved for the likes of David Lynch and seems destined to be the subject of many a film student's essay for years to come.
Who is Donnie Darko? Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a troubled youth with unspecified psychiatric problems. Sometimes he forgets to take his medication. Sometimes a man wearing a rabbit suit and an insect mask pays him a visit and tells him that the world will end in just over 28 days. It is 1988 and George Bush Snr is in power. Donnie regularly goes to a shrink. His parents are concerned about him. One day a jet engine drops through the roof of his bedroom but thanks to one of Frank the rabbit's nocturnal visits Donnie escapes certain death. He experiences strange and terrible visions and seeks to unravel them with the help of his new girlfriend, Gretchen (Jena Malone), and Roberta Sparrow (Patience Cleveland), otherwise known as Grandma Death, an ex teacher at his school, and author of the book 'The Philosophy of Time Travel.' Who is Donnie Darko? This most basic of existential queries in fact posits the quest everybody faces the search for who they are and why they are here. Grandma Death's words to Donnie provide a chilling response: "ever creature on this earth dies alone".
Producer Sean McKittrick says "Every moment in this story is there for a reason, every little character and every set piece is there for a reason. There's not a shot in the film that doesn't mean something. You're sent on a 28 day journey where you're basically torn in 100 different direction but it all winds up back in one spot - and you have to decide for yourself what you've experienced."
For all its complexities, or because of them, Donnie Darko could so easily have failed to deliver. There are a number of factors that make this an outstanding film besides the ingenuity of its plot and the pertinent but idiosyncratic dialogue. The cinematography and editing, along with a soundtrack that includes the most effective use of a Tears For Fears song, manage to capture the ethereal beauty of Fall in small-town America, but hinting at the darkness that inevitably follows. However, it is the cast that sets the seal on Donnie Darko, including Patrick Swayze as a horribly sanctimonious self-help guru who may not be all that he seems, and Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose dinner table sparring with her real-life sibling reverberate with aching, bittersweet accuracy.
Ultimately, however, Donnie Darko succeeds because of its lead actor. Executive producer Drew Barrymore, who cameos in the film, says "The fact that we found Jake and that Jake is Donnie Darko, I mean really is this character, was incredible. Jake is subtle and amusing and spiritual and has so much going on inside him that he takes you right into Donnie's world."
In Donnie Darko, the 26-year-old director Kelly has managed to produce a film that is unpolished perfection, and is all the more interesting for its flaws, with a protagonist whose name will lend itself to film posterity, posing a Keyser Soze-type metaphor for the human condition. It's also a damn good film to curl up to on the sofa with a takeaway pizza and bottle of wine on a Saturday night. Told you it worked at many levels.
Jean Lynch
The Good Girl is available to buy and rent from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, and is released as part of the Jake Gyllenhaal Collection on 2nd October, 2006.
EXTRA FEATURES
• The Director's Cut featuring an all new commentary with Richard Kelly &
Kevin Smith.
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