Over the past two years, “Donnie Darko” has slowly managed to achieve an underground cult status among movie lovers and horror lovers, so when I was able to grab hold of this, I had to check it out. Jake Gyllenhaal, independent actor for critically acclaimed films such as “Moonlight Mile”, and “The Good Girl” stars as the anti-social delusional boy known as “Donnie Darko”. Instantly, the movie begins with a mystery: we see Darko lying along a road looking out upon the city and so forth a voice tells the prophecy to him about the end of the world occurring in 28 days. Throughout the entire film, a demonic spirits in the form of a rabbit begins telling him these omens, and thought Donnie struggles to fight it, can’t escape the messages.
Originality is the key to this movie as it begs many questions about philosophy, life, and pre-determined destinies. Donnie is an unusual kid who lives in a basically normal house and that is one of the underlying themes in the movie: Normality. The movie sets Darko in a town where conformity reigns. All the teachers stick by a strict schedule and bow to a self help guru named Jim Cunningham, and instantly reject difference and originality; such is represented in many scenes of the movie, one of which shows a little Chinese girl performing a performance piece in front of the town during an assembly which the crowd laughs at and mocks, but when a plain and formulaic dance number arises, everyone cheers wildly, his teacher Karen is later fired from school for discovering different methods of teaching her class. Donnie Darko is an excellent and original character which is what the towns people fear.
The only original people in this town are Dr. Monitoff, and his girlfriend, teacher Karen who stare in awe at Darko’s outrageousness and eccentricity. Everyone in the town is drawn towards him and he takes no reluctance in pointing out their faults. During a seminar in his school, self help guru Jim Cunningham appears. Everyone begins asking him plain questions about school and losing weight, but as soon as Darko steps up to the podium, he dares to challenge his facade and is instantly carried off the stage. His love interest Gretchen Ross is also oddly drawn to him and seems to take his odd behavior in stride as he continues receiving the odd omens from Frank the Rabbit.
What makes this movie such a thrill to watch is Jake Gyllenhaal’s excellent performance. This guy shows he’s a true actor with immense skill as he flawlessly changes moods and personalities throughout the course of the story. At one moment he’s vulnerable teen arguing with his sister Elizabeth at the dinner table, and the next, he’s exploring the inner most dark chambers of his mind while bantering with the psychotic rabbit that taunts him and somehow guides him to reveal the facades many of the towns folks bear. At first his mother craves to be as normal as everyone else, being urged by other parents to enforce his normality, but soon grows to accept his difference in spite of everything.
The movie also tends to delve into the concept of fate and pre-determined destinies and on whether we ever really have control over our lives. Darko can see his destiny before him, and gets help from Frank the bunny. Suddenly, he begins rapidly decoding the puzzle of the future before his eyes but never puts the puzzle together until the very end. The story and directing is impeccable and truly original taking a break from the usual cookie cutter teen angst dramas and comedies and making a movie that truly takes a trip into the psyche of the teenage angst ridden mind. This is a brilliant and truly incredible piece of art that deserves to be watched, Gyllenhaal is a truly gifted actor. No wonder this is becoming a cult classic.