Donnie Darko

Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies of 2001... and nobody saw it...
Review: Donnie Darko is a fascinating, complex movie that you could easily walk right by in the video store. Don't. The packaging is ridiculous - the movie didn't garner much attention at the movie theater, so in order to boost video sales, they've made it look like a typical teen horror movie, complete with ubercheesy tagline - "Be Afraid Of The Dark."

In reality, Donnie Darko is like what Rushmore would be if it were made by David Lynch. Set in October of 1988, for reasons I have yet to figure out, we have the protagonist, Donnie Darko, a suburban teenager who may be schizophrenic, or a time traveler. He receives messages from a man-sized demented rabbit named Frank, who tells him that there are 28 days, 6 hours, 48 minutes and 12 seconds (roughly) until the End Of The World.

There is an inspired use of 80's hipster-pop songs, but this is done sparingly, to make the scenes more memorable. One that sticks out in my mind is the day after Donnie's house (more specifically, his room) meets with a strange fate, we see a surreal, slightly eerie montage of Donnie's private high school, shot in varying speeds, accompanied by Tears for Fears' "Head Over Heels".

The characters are so undeniably nuanced that it should put American Beauty's one-dimensional family to shame. We're introduced to the Darko family at dinner, when the daughter announces that she's voting for Dukakis (remember, '88). From a normal movie, we'd expect the typical conflict between uptight suburban parents and liberal college-bound daughter. Instead, the parents pretty much shrug their shoulders,and the conversation denigrates into vulgar namecalling - which amuses the parents, not horrifying them. I wanted to peg them off the bat as "typical movie Republicans", real white bread, conformist conservative types. But the movie won't let you do that. Later on there's a scene where Donnie's mom sublimely puts down a heady school teacher who wants to ban a "controversial" book. But the effect is less of triumph than of a subtle tedium with the rest of the imbeciles in the PTA.

The acting is superb and really makes the movie. Jake Gyllenhaal (sp?) has a big, open face that he uses to his advantage. He is totally believable as that most tiresome of movie stereotypes, the troubled genius. He really deserves to be a bigger star - he is very talented and I hope to see him in more movies like this one and less like Bubble Boy. He's a real cutie, too, in that antihero way that reminded me of Jason Schwartzman from Rushmore. The actress who plays his mother is amazing - it seemed like she was always holding back and I spent the entire movie really trying to figure her out.

I don't think I totally know what the movie is eventually about, but I see it as a sort of demented "It's A Wonderful Life," where Jimmy Stewart finds out that the happy Bedford Falls is really a dream and that the world really would have been better if he hadn't been born. It's an odd sort of existentialist film, and I certainly could be wrong in my interpretation, but that was what I first thought of. The darkness of the theme made me gasp in its audacity.

Rating:
Summary: Number One
Review: Donnie Darko is quite possibly THE BEST movie ever made. I have never before in my life judged a movie as the best and I never thought I would until I watched this film. See this movie if it's the last thing you do and see it for what it is. Don't look for flaws because your not going to find any. It is not the participants place to say what is flawed in a film that is not thier own unless there are obvious plot holes and bad acting. Darko has neither. Keep in mind that, thanks to ''hollywood standards' forcing the director to pull out the butcher knife, there was a lot of important material cut out which can and should be watched on the DVD. This does not change the fact that what you see when you watch Donnie Darko is perfection. The acting is amazing, the story is entirely original and has been edited perfectly so that everything that needs to be known to make the film work flawlessly is in place. Yes, there are quite a few movies that have amazing acting and a flawlessly edited plot and here I am saying that Donnie Darko is the best. The reason this film is the best is this: because the above mentioned was done in such a perfect way, you will feel every character. You will want to know everything about even the most uninvolved character. Every character could so easily be the main character in their own movie and you will want to see their movies. This is extremely rare in a film. In fact I can't think of a single movie where it's done as perfectly as in Darko. A masterpiece does not happen often especially in a day and age when people think less and less before they act. Please, take full advantage of this masterpiece. And for those of you who can fully understand and appreciate what I am saying in this review, spread the word about Donnie Darko....THE BEST movie ever made.

Rating:
Summary: My new Favorite movie
Review: I had been recommended this movie by two different people, and boy, was this the best recommendation of a film I've had in awhile!!! Before I actually started watching this, I sat in the darkness of my living room and opened my mind. I told myself that I have no expectations. It is going to be different, yes, but that is why I am watching it.
Richard Kelly is so amazingly creative!!! He is the Quention Tarentino of the new Millennium!!! While this movie is not violent like Pulp Fiction, it's screenplay is just as original.
"Donnie Darko" certainly may not be the feel good movie of the year nor was it a blockbuster hit. It is now my favorite movie.
Why? Well, first off, it is unique and I am so tired of the usual romantic comedy or the formulatic action/adventure that has come out in the past year. 2001 had so many movies come out of it that i just did not care for. This film is one of the select few that really moved me and made me think and was also very intensly entertaining. If you are of the group of people that just wants to have some silly laughs or want something light and airy, this isn't a movie for you. I do often like to laugh, and did find myself laughing a few times at this movie, but it is so original> It's a beautiful story that is told through Donnie's mind.
Secondly, the acting is brilliant. Jake Gyllenhaal, also of the moronic "Bubble Boy", is utterly amazing and so in tune to his character, Donnie Darko. It's as if the character was written for him. The expressions he makes often appear a bit creepy, but he isn't supposed to be competely sane. Donnie is, however, a good person, and Jake makes him seem so real and true. I pay a great deal of attention to what the characters say and do in movies, and I think that Donnie Darko is one of the greatest characters ever written. Sure he may have some emotional problems, but he is a nice guy who in some respect is willing to do anything for someone he loves. The film itself is set in October 1988, and Donnie, who is on medication for emotional problems, has this very frightening and menacing looking bunny rabbitt called Frank come to him into a dream.
Frank makes Donnie do things, things that maybe in Donnie's mind may seem like the right thing to do but aren't; however, he feels there is some justification in doing them. While he may feel this way, his school(except for one teacher, played by Drew Barrymore), and the self-help preaching Jim Cunningham, played by Patrick Swayze do not.
Talk about the 80's!! Swayze hasn't been in much since those days.
Drew Barrymore is the worst thing about this movie. Is her character supposed to be acted so badly? I have never particularly liked her as an actress. She was born into an acting family, and I think it is the name that has gotten her into films. She is the executive producer of Donnie Darko, and I think that they just gave her a role in this because of that reason. She plays Donnie's English teacher, and while her acting is pretty bad, the character is one that Donnie actually appreciates and to some extent admires.
Mary McDonnell, who's most celebrated work is in Passion Fish, plays Mrs. Rose Darko. She is very good in this and convincing as the mother who feels as if she hasn't done a good job as mother to Donnie.
Katharine Ross plays the therapist that Donnie goes to. She takes the role seriously, and plays it very well yet subdued.
No real other names stick out for me in the acting category, but all of the actors and actresses are all very good in this. They all work very well together.

My other reason this is a favorite of mine is that it is set in the 1980's, which is my generation. I was in junior high and high school then and this brings back great memories for me.
I think they could have made more use of 80's music in the film. The only song I recognized is Tears for Fears, "Head over Heels".
The main reason I call this favorite is because of it's originality and it's message. I paid very close attention to Donnie and what he says throughout the film, and I found the message to be a bit complex and hard to understand what was going on until the end. That is all I will say.
One really must take this movie with a complete open mind. I really can't classify this film into one genre, it is a bit science fiction with it's subplot about time travel, but there is so much to this movie it's just hard to classify for those who contemplate watching it. If you are up for something completely different and go into it with a mind wide open, I think you will be very pleasantly surprised.
This is a sad, demented at times, powerful, and thought provoking film that was so overlooked while in theaters. It never came anywhere near me on the big screen, only in Cambridge.
I rented the dvd, which was so amazingly well done. I watched a lot of the extras, for fans of the film, it is worth buying with all the extra goodies such as deleted scenes with audio commentary. I, myself, like to watch with the commentary on after viewing the movie as it brings me into a deeper understanding of what the filmmaker was trying to accomplish.

Rating:
Summary: A must have for dark movie buffs.
Review: Donnie Darko is a film that will have you thinking about it weeks after you first saw it. This film is incredible in the way it makes you doubt. I still don't know if Donnie was mentally ill or the world was acually falling apart around him. I would recomend to see the DVD of this film because there are loads of deleted scenes that will further explain the characters, not to mention the two commentaries included which also might answer some questions. But expect one thing about this film; you most likely will NEVER be able to find solid answers to all the questions you will have after watching it. It was made to be open to interpretation.

One thing that really suprised me about this film was it's special effects, for an independant film the effects are the best I've seen so far. I would recommend this movie to people who like dark strange films like Heathers, Being John Malkovich, Magnolia, American Beauty, ect...
I am looking foward to the next film Richard Kelly makes.

Rating:
Summary: DARKO....
Review: DONNIE DARKO, is by far one of the most original sci-fi of the year!...(along with AvaLon maybe..)

see it! a.s.a.p!

you don't know what you're missing..
congrats to RICHARD KELLY/ and the entire cast...
i'm impatient to see his next films..

Rating:
Summary: Past Imperfect
Review: In "Donnie Darko," one of the characters says to Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal), "You're weird. That's a compliment." Richard Kelly's overlooked debut feature from the fall of 2001 is *really* weird. That's a compliment. As the film opens on October 1, 1988, Donnie, a troubled teen with a genius IQ, is wakened from slumber and led out to the country club golf course by Frank, a creepy, echo-voiced bunnyman (James Duval) who tells him that the world will end in just thirty days. The rest of the film recounts the events of those thirty days, including Donnie's hypno-therapy sessions with his psychiatrist (Katherine Ross); his strangely protective romance with Gretchen, a fellow outcast at school (Jena Malone); his efforts to debunk the teachings of smarmy self-help guru (Patrick Swayze); and, of course, the mystery of what will happen on October 31, which seems tied somehow to the jet engine that crashed into Donnie's room on the night of October 1, just after Donnie was roused from sleep...

The film is similar in look and feel to the languid, surreal suburban dramas of "American Beauty," "The Ice Storm" and "The Virgin Suicides," but its content is another matter. The subject of the film is something of a Rorsharch test for viewers. What is the movie really about? Time travel? Dreams? The afterlife? Schizophrenia? I'm not sure. The extras on the DVD, particularly the commentary and excerpts from a pseudo-science book called "The Philosophy of Time Travel" indicate that Kelly meant this to be a reality-bending tale in the tradition of Philip K. Dick's fiction, Terry Gilliam's "Twelve Monkeys," or perhaps Spike Jonze's "Being John Malkovich," but without the study aids, the images and events of the film are more baffling than even those works. "Donnie Darko" seems to present the pieces of a coherent story, but I wonder whether everything adds up.

Notwithstanding the enigma of the "plot," there's a lot to recommend the film. The performances, including smart, understated turns by Drew Barrymore, Noah Wylie and Mary McDonnell, are wonderful. Gyllenhaal was a great choice for Darko; though he's clearly older than his character, his unfocused features lend him a childish aspect, and his carefully-deployed smirk can seem simultaneously beatific and demonic. Despite her character's troubled background, Jena Malone is effortlessly endearing, which is important to the film's ending. (Or beginning. Whatever.) The dialogue is priceless; some of it is self-consciously funny, but much of the humor comes from the fact that the characters spout malapropisms and non-sequiturs common to everyday conversation. And even if, like me, you can't make full sense of the story, I'd be willing to bet that you've never seen anything like it before. What other film could make songs by Tears for Fears or Duran Duran sound so atmospheric or ominous?

This film is seriously weird. That's a compliment.

Rating:
Summary: All I can say is WOW
Review: This movie is without a doubt the most original film I've seen since Memento. Plus this is one of the best DVDs in my collection. The special features are *surprise* SPECIAL! The deleted scenes add to the depth of the movie and the web gallery gives those without a computer the experience of visiting one of the web's best made sites. All of the features help to explain the movie's some what complex plot.
I enjoyed everything about this movie. It jumps from genre to genre without making it confusing or annoying. You'll be laugh one minute and terrified the next. Ignore the one bad review and trust the majority of people who saw this movie. It's a great film and a great DVD. After watching it you'll have a new outlook on life and death and you'll be outraged it didn't get played in more theaters.

Rating:
Summary: a woefully underpublicized masterpiece
Review: I went to see this film in the theater a few months ago, knowing very little about it, and was absolutely blown away by its inventiveness, cleverness, and vitality. For some reason it never got a real release here in Boston, and so now it appears on DVD having hardly been in theaters.

But the DVD of this movie is extremely well made and complements the movie well: lots of commentary, and a ton of deleted scenes. The movie is incredibly mysterious, and the DVD kind of helps to clear up the mystery.

Not only is this movie set in the 80's, but it also has an 80's movie feel: it has a tone that is somewhat remininscent of "repo man", "heathers", with a little "highlander" (?!) thrown in. the high school slo-mo scene set to the tune of tears for fears' "head over heels" is a classic movie moment.

Rating:
Summary: Such an interesting film and yet... somehow not very good
Review: I was really looking forward to this movie, but so much of it strikes me as a really well made, feature-budgeted student film.

Why?

Because "Donnie Darko" is bursting with inspiration (some fresh, a lot borrowed) and yet it just doesn't seem to have the wisdom of very much actual experience. I was both fascinated and frustrated at every turn and in the end I was mostly just disappointed.

For starters, "DD" is saddled with one of the most opaque and least likeable main characters since "Brewster McCloud" (which comes to mind because it, too, is an intriguing and risky but ultimately unsuccessful experiment). Jake Gyllenhaal plays Donnie with the "head down, eyes up" sad-smile glower of a Kubrick anti-hero. Sometimes Donnie is smart. Sometimes Donnie is dumb. Sometimes Donnie is mean. Sometimes Donnie is cool. Sometimes Donnie is crazy. Which is like most teenages (or even most people) but it becomes problematic when we can never get a rough estimate of how many cards the central character is playing with.

The other characters aren't much help, either. The villains are cardboard and heavy handedly drawn; virtually free of any sort of complexities, they proudly sing the virtues of censorship, psycho-evangelism, and easy answers. Donnie's rebellion against them almost makes it appear that he's taking easy bait.

Everybody else just sort of wanders in and out of the story, and I was really surprised at how ill-used Drew Barrymore, Noah Wylie, Jena Mallone and especially Maggie Gyllenhaal are. They're all very good when it occurs to the script that they should make an appearance, but most of the time the script would rather watch Donnie be kooky.

Finally, there are just too many elements of "DD" that remind me of, or refer to, other stuff. There's the malevolent infomercial guru prancing around on stage and he seems to belong to another movie (say, "Requiem for a Dream" or "Magnolia"). There's the mystical rabbit-like wanderer (probably only a coincidence that "Sexy Beast" has one, too, but what about, say, "Gummo" ?). The troubled wild child in counselling ("Good Will Hunting," "Ordinary People"). When the movie wants to be cheeky, it displays a theater marquee with the "Halloween Double Feature" of "Evil Dead" and "The Last Temptation of Christ" (zing! crash!). And one would think, since Donnie's mother is versed in Stephen King (she's reading "It" when the movie opens), she'd at least have a clue where her story was going.

Based on the amount of deleted scenes on the DVD, and the wealth of information that's covered therein (including a particularly interesting but excised revelation about Donnie's medication) I think this was a movie that lost its way during the editing. Director Kelly doesn't seem to have any real regrets on the commentary track so I doubt there will be a more coherent "director's cut," but I imagine that a longer version would've filled in some of the blanks that I was left with at the end of the film.

Nevertheless, as a horror movie, "Donnie Darko" does strive for something MUCH more subtle than most of the recent offerings from the horror genre. It does have genuine moments of creepiness and dread. I felt led on and let down by "Donnie Darko," but I'd rather see this creepy failure five times than see another variation on "I Know What You Did Last Summer" which, fortunately, is one movie "Donnie" doesn't emulate.
I'll be interested to see what Richard Kelly does next.

Rating:
Summary: An Original, Enthralling Masterpiece
Review: I have seen hundreds upon hundreds of movies throughout my life and Donnie Darko is one of the most original, enthralling pieces of cinema I have ever seen. Some people might complain that the movie is flawed, but I have to counter with the idea of choice. This movie lets you choose what it means.

After I watched this spectacular film, I obtained the music from the film, listened to it all night, while pondering and running through all the ideas presented within. Of all the junky movies out there, this movie deserves to be seen.