Donnie Darko is a multi-genre piece which focuses on thelife of a young teenage boy and the events in his life that wouldcome to shape the destiny of those around him.
Late one night while sleepwalking, Donnie receives a messagefrom the future through a six-foot tall bunny rabbit named Frankregarding the impending doom of his world. After this revelation,Frank begins to guide Donnie as he prepares himself and thosearound him for the end.
Jake Gyllenhaal masterfully embodies the character of Donnie, amisunderstood paranoid-schizophrenic teen battling his inner demonsand the narrow-minded focus of those in authority over him.Gyllenhaal does this while wonderfully articulating the effectsthat Donnie’s visions have on his own psyche and thoseinhabiting his little town.
Older sister Maggie Gyllenhaal brings to life Donnie’soutspoken sister Elizabeth with grace while Patrick Swayze appearsas the enthusiastic self-help guru Jim Cunningham, a figure who hasrecently found celebrity status among the town.
Noah Wyle plays Donnie’s physics professor Dr. Monnitoff,a character key to Donnie’s understanding of the‘Tanget Universe.’ Drew Barrymore, one of the executiveproducers of the film, also appears as Donnie’s intelligentEnglish teacher, Karen Pomeroy.
Writer/Director Richard Kelly, who has since become a hero andposter boy for all “midnight matineers” around thecountry, has truly created a piece of cinematic history. TheDirector’s Cut, which clocks in 20 minutes longer than theoriginal and includes actual pages from “The Philosophy ofTime Travel,” allows the viewer to witness new scenes thathelp shed light onto the mysterious meaning of thisthought-provoking piece of art.
Besides being a cult classic, Donnie Darko is also highlypraised from many film critics. It has a secured a place at #93 onIMDb.com’s Top 250 movies of all time and has multiplepositive reviews, including two thumbs up from Ebert andRoeper.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I would easily give this movie a 12 andrecommend that anyone, already having seen the film or not,experience the magic once again on the silver screen before it istoo late.
