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This One Out! - Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko: "Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit?"
Frank: "Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?"
Donnie
Darko is directed by Richard Kelly (Southland
Tales, The Box) and stars Jake
Gyllenhaal as Donnie Darko, Jena Malone as Gretchen Ross, Mary McDonnell as
Rose Darko, Holmes Osborne as Eddie Darko, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Elizabeth
Darko, Daveigh Chase as Samantha Darko, Katherine Ross as Dr. Lilian Thurman,
James Duval as Frank Anderson, Drew Barrymore as Karen Pomeroy, Patrick Swayze
as Jim Cunningham, Beth Grant as Kitty Farmer, Noah Wyle as Dr. Kenneth
Monnitoff, and Stuart Stone as Ronald Fisher.
Donnie Darko lives in a seemingly nice and
modern suburban neighborhood. A close call allows him to depart from a bizarre
accident of a jet engine going right into his house. After that traumatizing
experience, Donnie withdraws himself from his family, school, and reality
itself. He has been dealing with psychological issues for a while now, seeing
someone in a demented bunny costume named Frank. He pops up every now and then
to throw apocalyptic visions at Donnie and influencing him to commit a series
of crimes. Time travel, hallucinations, parallel universes, love, and confusion
shrouds this movie so much that, not only just being a great movie, it's now a
cult classic.
28 days. Donnie Darko was filmed in 28 days, which is ironically the amount
of time Donnie has to "save the world" from its apocalypse. This film
goes through some weird changes dealing with science, philosophies of life, and
religion. There's undertones of many different themes that it's a little hard
to keep track of. However, the first viewing sucks you right in through the
wormhole. It's definitely a film that deserves more than one viewing; it allows
you to think and make observations that other people may not see. I saw Donnie Darko for the first time in 2007.
What attracted me about the movie was Frank. Frank the bunny. He is one of the
most frightening character that I have seen in film history. The change in
ambience due to only his presence is so overwhelming that his face has been
ingrained in my mind ever since. Not as a good omen or a bad one; just a memory
that there are people trying to help you and hurt you. I won't go into an
analysis of Donnie Darko because
that'll take WAY too long. If you want, the in-depth analysis is available online. look more into the film and go down the
rabbit hole, no pun intended. There are spoilers there, just as a warning.
Anyways, Donnie Darko has more than
just thought provoking dialogue/actions, the creepy and always wonderful Jake
Gyllenhaal is the lead. His performance by no means is the best he's ever done
(I'll give that award to his performance in Nightcrawler),
but it set the bar for what he should strive for. He didn't do that until Brokeback Mountain in 2005. I think Donnie Darko is the first film that
people got to see his weird dark side in acting. Phenomenal work, Jake! Props
to the rest of the cast as well. Jena Malone does a fantastic job as Gretchen
next to Jake's Donnie as his love interest. Jena brings a introverted and hurt
character to the film, while still grounds Donnie so he won't float too far
into space. I can't stress it enough: Donnie
Darko make you think about a deeper meaning in life. It will and there's no
going around it.
The psychological thriller/drama Donnie Darko is on my top 20 favorite
movies of all time. It's on there for good reason. With every watch, I learn
something new. Sometimes it's something new about the movie (like a little Easter
egg, detail that I missed, etc.) and sometimes it's something new on my view of
what reality is or how I should deal with personal demons. Sure, while dealing
with the idea of time travel you'll run into mistakes, but what time travel
movie doesn't have mistakes? It's a paradox that can't be corrected perfectly
by anyone. Still, it's the philosophical aspect of Donnie Darko that leads to my recommendation.
Donnie Darko is rated R for language, some drug use and violence
Click here to watch the trailer
Donnie Darko is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download
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