Donnie Darko

By Simon Woodhouse

Every now and then a film sneaks in under the radar. It creeps into the multiplexes, receives almost no publicity or hype, stays on general release for a couple of weeks and then disappears again. I was living in England when Donnie Darko received its theatrical release, and it stayed at the local cinema for a grand total of one day. It was a weekday as well, so I didn't get a chance to see it. When I bought the DVD, I really had no idea about the film, other than I was still miffed I'd missed it at the cinema. Fortunately it's the sort of movie that doesn't require surround sound, or a fifty-foot tall screen to enjoy, so watching it at home wasn't really any different from seeing it at the multiplex.

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhall) is a troubled youth. But his story isn't one of a kid living on the wrong side of the tracks, and struggling to make good in a bad world, it's much more complex than that. The film opens with Donnie waking up on a lonely country road. He's been sleep walking again. Ordinarily this would be a bad thing, but the next night he's doing the same thing again and it saves his life. The sleepwalking is a symptom of his neurosis, but that's not its only manifestation - he's hallucinating too. Frank the Rabbit, maybe one of the scariest creations in recent cinema, appears before Donnie and delivers cryptic messages about when the world is going to end. This doesn't sit well with Donnie's middleclass parents, so he's in therapy.

As the film moves on he meets Gretchen (Jena Malone), a new girl in school, who's moved to Donnie's neighborhood so her mother can escape her abusive father. They form a bond, united by the confusion in their lives. Though Donnie finds some solace with Gretchen, he's still visited by Frank the Rabbit. The sleep walking turns into sleep vandalism, and Donnie's school is flooded and the school mascot defaced.

Against the backdrop of Donnie's personal troubles, the film also has a strong liberal versus conservative theme. But this isn't a straight rant by one against the other, it's done by showing how conservatism seeks to ignore complex issues by applying black and white answers, and how liberalism's lack of discipline lets the same issues forever go unsolved. These battle lines are the clearest in Donnie's school, where conservative and liberal teachers are fighting each other for control of the curriculum, and thus the minds of the children.

Besides Frank the Rabbit, Donnie also starts seeing what looks like a long tentacle made of water. This apparition leads him to objects that may or may not have something to do with his future. Though this sounds bizarre, it does fit in with another of the films subplots - time travel. To start with, this aspect of the movie seems like a distracting side element, but it really comes into play right at the end.

Though the film works well as a whole, there are a few individual scenes that really stand out. Donnie's confrontation with a motivational speaker, Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze), is amongst the best. There are also several touching moments - the first time he kisses Gretchen, his conversation with his science teacher about God. Not all the creepy scenes include Frank the Rabbit or the water tentacle. One of the most disturbing sections involves Donnie's twelve-year-old sister, and some of her classmates, covered in far too much makeup and dancing cheerleader style in front of an audience of cheering parents. This becomes all the more creepy, when one of the people urging them on is shortly afterward found to have a house full of child pornography.

In a film as dark as this, it's obvious there's not going to be a happy ending. But the odd thing here is the fact Donnie Darko has two finales. Remember the earlier subplot about time travel? It comes back with a vengeance at the end. So just when you think things are really bleak, the movie jumps backward and delivers an alternative ending that was actually the beginning as well. However, if you find the concept of time travel difficult to grapple with, you might be confused. I'll be with you if you are, but that didn't spoil my enjoyment of the film.

Good performances abound, especially from Jake Gyllenhall. His real life sister, Maggie, also plays his sister in the film, and the family connection adds an extra layer of realism. Besides the top quality acting, a brilliant, late 80s soundtrack helps set the tone. Songs from Echo and the Bunnymen, Tears for Fears, Joy Division and The Church work much better than an orchestral score. Obviously someone involved in the production was a Tears for Fears fan, because they appear twice. But they don't perform their second song, it's an acoustic piano version of Mad World sung by Gary Jules, which was released as a single in the UK and reached number one about a year after the film's happened.

Adding all the individual elements together here makes one very dark, but also totally absorbing movie. Even when you've seen it a dozen times, and know the ending, it'll still resonate and leave a lasting impression.