Donnie Darko is one of the most popular and talked about cult films of the last 15 years, a mind-boggling fantasy drama about a teenager, Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal), who has bizarre apocalyptic visions of a man in a grotesque rabbit costume, Frank, and narrowly escapes death after a jet engine crashes through his bedroom. The movie follows his awkward interactions with his family, his troubled high school life, and his burgeoning relationship with new student Gretchen (Jena Malone), all while the 28-day countdown to destruction ticks on. While investigating time travel, Donnie ends up being given the book The Philosophy of Time Travel, which really is the key to the narrative, even while those around him begin to believe he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia as his behaviour becomes increasingly erratic throughout the movie. As Frank's prophesised time of doom approaches, Gretchen is killed in a car accident, Donnie kills the driver (who happens to be Frank) and an airplane carrying his younger sister encounters trouble in the air, with one of its jet engines falling through a vortex. Donnie, who is now in his bedroom, is killed by the jet engine, and the following day, an alive Gretchen hears of Donnie's death and claims not to have known him, though has some vague awareness of Donnie's mother. While Donnie Darko is an extremely interesting and certainly complex film, it shouldn't be mistaken for being a particularly smart film. It's not exactly fair on your audience that the movie's plot has to be explained by a book, excerpts of which you can find online here: a smarter film would allow any viewer to work things out from jigsaw pieces that exist in the movie itself, no matter how deeply embedded they are. Essentially, you need to do homework to figure Donnie Darko out, though with its array of technical terms (Tangent Universe, Artifact, The Living Receiver, Manipulated Dead), all but the most devoted Darko die-hards are likely to find themselves exasperated by the contrived nature of Richard Kelly's vision. Simply, this is a movie better off enjoyed in all of its confusing ambiguity: it ends up being a lot less gratifying when the nature of its being is unraveled. Are there any smart-but-not-really-smart movies we missed? Let us know in the comments!
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
