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Review : Donnie Darko
I want to write a brief review of a strange flick that my lovely girlfriend Kymberly introduced me to called Donnie Darko. This is one of those movies that three out of four out of the movie viewing public will not understand or enjoy but that one out of the four will probably think it is one of the coolest movies ever made.
I can't really describe the plot with out giving away some major surprises to the plot and spoil the movie so I am going to write a spoiler free review as much as I can.
This movie was written and shot before the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 but it had the unfortunate luck of being released about a month and a half after 9/11. This is a rather macabre cerebral movie with some freaky antisocial elements. It was made on a small budget of 4 Million but it made less than half a million at the box office due to the already traumatized American public. However after the DVD release the movie found an audience and made over ten million on DVD sales and midnight showings of cult movies.
The movie is set in a suburban America in October 1988 about a high school Junior named Donnie Darko. He is a likable but slightly deranged young boy from an upper middle class family. He has a history of arson and is seeing a therapist for some serious emotional issues. He has some sleepwalking problems and he will wake up in strange places. Donnie is not exactly fitting in to his private high school but he is not deliberately anti-social or a total problem child. During one night of sleepwalking he is visited by a ghost like figure in a demonic looking rabbit costume named Frank. Frank instructs him that the world will end in just under twenty eight days.
Then before Donnie returns home from his sleepwalking his room is hit by a jet engine that fell from a 747. The strange thing is that the FAA does not know where the hell the engine came from. This event of the airplane engine and meeting Frank in his dreams and hallucinations puts Donnie on an unconscious quest for reason, redemption, love, God and destiny.
I did not even start to go into the symbolism and possible interpretations of the movie. Salon has a pretty good article about the more difficult questions about this flick and the director went ahead and wrote a book about interpretations of it.
They just don't make them like this anymore... in fact I don't think they ever made them like this.
It is possible to look at this as a better than average teenage movie set in the 80s that is a science fiction tale of time travel and destiny. It is also possible that sense the story is told from the perspective of Donnie Darko it is his decent into total insanity and madness. Both are totally valid interpretations of the movie.
There are just not really other movies of this type out there. This is a mind fuck of a movie and it is not going to be completely understood with out some additional viewings with the writer/director commentary track and some good discussion of the flick with a fellow cinema freak. Noah Wiley and Drew Barrymore are pretty good and I am surprised that Patrick Swayze actually delivered a good performance.
This year there was a limited theatrical run of a extended director's cut with lots of even more stuff to think about. I regret not seeing it in the theater but it should be out of DVD soon. However if you think your IQ is bigger than your shoe size and you are looking for a good but very different movie then you must check this movie out. But be warned it is a total mindfuck.
Donnie: Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?
Frank: Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?
Jake at July 30, 2004 
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Comments
I enjoyed the flick but was left wondering what happened after reading it.. hence my quest to search for some analysis of the movie.
Posted by: wuji at July 30, 2004 6:34 AM
The Director's Cut is still in theaters. I think just in NY and LA at the moment but may be expanding today.
Posted by: Scott at July 30, 2004 10:31 AM
The Director's Cut is still in theaters. I think just in NY and LA at the moment but may be expanding today.
Posted by: Scott at July 30, 2004 10:31 AM
Yeah, I love this film. I'm really looking forward to the new DVD. The Director's Cut is still making the rounds in theatres, so look out for it.
Posted by: brendoman at July 30, 2004 3:02 PM
I just saw Donnie Darko for the first time a week ago and was amazed. It is the best movie I've ever seen. I had rented it from Blockbuster and I watched it every day I had it out and what gets me is that I still haven't come up with a theory for parts of it. If you haven't seen this movie, you NEED to see it.
Posted by: Matt Jakel at July 30, 2004 7:29 PM
i saw that movie when i was like 5... gawsh!
Posted by: gringo at July 30, 2004 10:27 PM
Since it came out in 2001 that would make you 8 Gringo.
Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at July 30, 2004 10:50 PM
If you've seen the movie and found it difficult to understand, then might I also recommend that you check out the website: www.donniedarko.com and see if you can make any sense of that!
/having actually got to the end of the site
Posted by: Spanky at August 1, 2004 10:18 PM
if you're confused about the movie either read the DD forum/thread at imdb or do a search for the book (name escapes me at the moment) that was mentioned in the movie.
that's my only complaint about the movie. the movie wouldnt have been as wide-open to interpretation if the book was featured more prominately(sp?) in the movie as it is in the director's cut. major boo boo, imo.
Posted by: jon at August 2, 2004 10:58 PM
Not enjoying the movie doesn't mean that you didn't understand it. It's pretentious, and overly "open" just for the sake of getting people to "figure it out".
Posted by: Christer S at September 13, 2007 7:38 PM
