The Movie: The life of enigmatic high school student Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) becomes far more complicated and mysterious following the appearance of Frank, a six-foot tall man in a rabbit costume who tells him that the world will soon end, a prophecy which leads to a series of increasingly unusual events. Before long, Donnie finds himself questioning the nature of reality and considering the possibility that time travel might be far more real than he realised. What Makes It Original: Alternate realities and parallel universes might seem like they're commonplace subjects for movies today, but back in 2001 the concept had rarely been explored with such visual panache and richly layered subtexts. Donnie Darko is a film in which quantum physics fuses with 80s teen angst and adolescent malaise, a striking and certainly unique combination which results in one of the most intriguing and original movies of the 21st century, fully deserving of its cult following.
