Donnie Darko (Richard Kelly 2001) is a eye
opening psychological thriller that will really make you stop and think. Donnie
Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is your average teenager who goes to a private school
and has emotional problems. These emotional problems eventually lead him to his
death. This film is truly a mind boggling experience. Kelly indulges us with
amazing camera angles which pan left and right and everywhere in between all
while being choreographed to the soundtrack, which is also amazing. The best scene
is when Donnie Darko walks through the school after he sees his future. We see
a upward angle shot of Donnie getting off the back of the buss and then hi
enters the school and the music starts playing, from here on every change of
the camera is influenced by the music, we speed up slow down and zoom in on
every character in the movie. The only thing I do not like about the film is
the plot. Being a longer film with a twisted plot, it gets hard to follow
towards the end and you find yourself asking what just happened.
The film is basically about Donnie being able to see and communicate with the future and finds out that his life is going to end in 28 days 6 hours 42 minutes and 12 seconds. We then head through an adventurous ride of the events that follow. In the end, even though he knows he is going to die if he stays in his room, he stays and laughs in his last seconds as an airplane engine falls through his roof and onto his bed. Really weird, but the film sound lighting and camera angles will make you want to watch it over and over again.
The film is basically about Donnie being able to see and communicate with the future and finds out that his life is going to end in 28 days 6 hours 42 minutes and 12 seconds. We then head through an adventurous ride of the events that follow. In the end, even though he knows he is going to die if he stays in his room, he stays and laughs in his last seconds as an airplane engine falls through his roof and onto his bed. Really weird, but the film sound lighting and camera angles will make you want to watch it over and over again.
It is 1988 and Donnie Darko, a high school student,
witnesses a vision of a giant black bunny rabbit who tells him the world will
end in 28 days. On the night the rabbit first awakens Donnie, an engine from a
passenger aeroplane lands on the Darko house, smashing into Donnie’s bedroom, but
leaving the rest of the house intact. The rabbit appears to have saved Donnie’s
life. This vision, however, is unreliable as Donnie has been
diagnosed schizophrenic, and events may have been
coincidental to Donnie’s vision.
Another explanation is that Donnie may by this stage have
entered an alternate universe, as by the end of the movie we see the same
events taking place again (with different consequences) and it seems that
Donnie has travelled through time and space. Alternatively, depending on what
you believe, the events witnessed may all be a dream.
. Donnie Darko (Jake
Gyllenhall) is a troubled teenager living with his family in seemingly idyllic
suburban Maryland. A schizophrenic with a history of violence, he has recently
stopped taking his medication and sleepwalks as a result. His parents, Rose and
Eddie (Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osborne) and his sisters, Elizabeth and
Samantha (Maggie Gyllenhall and Daveigh Chase), worry about him. One night at
dinner, Donnie and his sister get into a profane argument during which
Elizabeth reveals she knows Donnie is no longer taking his medication. Rose
confronts Donnie in his bedroom and he calls her a bitch. Guilty, Donnie
resumes taking his medication. On October 2nd, however, he sleepwalks and meets
Frank, a man in a menacing bunny costume. Frank tells him that in 28 days, 6
hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds, the world will end. That night, a jet engine
mysteriously crashes through the roof of the Darkos' house, destroying Donnie's
room. Had he not been sleepwalking, he would have been killed.
On the way to the office of Dr. Thurman (Katherine Ross), Donnie's therapist, Donnie and Eddie nearly run over Roberta Sparrow, also known as "Grandma Death" (Patience Cleveland). A senile old woman who spends her days shuffling back and forth between her house and the mailbox across the street. Grandma Death whispers in Donnie's ear that all that lives ultimately dies alone. This greatly troubles Donnie, who worries that life has no meaning.
A few days later, Frank appears to Donnie in a hallucination and encourages him to flood the private high school he attends by breaking open the water main with an ax. Donnie also embeds the ax in the head of the school's solid bronze statue of its mascot and spray paints "They made me do it" on the sidewalk. School is canceled that day and Donnie walks home with Gretchen (Jena Malone), the new girl in school. She reveals that her stepfather nearly killed her mother and is still on the loose. Donnie reveals his own troubled past as well as his intelligence. Gretchen decides that Donnie is weird and that this makes him attractive. They agree to become a couple.
Donnie has a troubled relationship with the faculty at his high school. Ms. Pomeroy (Drew Barrymore) appreciates his intellect and ability to engage with and understand the difficult material she assigns them to read in English class. The science teacher, Mr. Monnitoff (Noah Wyle), finds him a little more troubling, and Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant), the high strung and socially conservative health instructor, is offended that he questions her use of self-help tapes in class. After he profanely rejects her use of the simplistic methods espoused by local celebrity Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze), Donnie finds himself suspended from afterschool activities. When Donnie verbally assaults Cunningham during an appearance at the high school, he gets in even deeper trouble. Although the administration suspects that Donnie is indeed responsible for the vandalism, he is never charged.
Frank continues to appear to Donnie and tells Donnie that they can do anything and won't get caught. Frank also tells Donnie about time travel, further confusing him. Soon, Donnie sees tubes of fluid light extending out of his family's chests, indicating where they will go. His own tube beckons him to follow as it enters his parents' room and reveals the gun his father keeps in a box in the closet. Donnie speaks about time travel with Mr. Monnitoff who gives him a book, "The Philosophy of Time Travel," written by Roberta Sparrow. Sparrow used to be a nun and a teacher at the high school. However, the climate at the school is becoming increasingly conservative as Kitty Farmer leads a protest against Ms. Pomeroy's choice of reading material; one of the stories she had assigned, Graham Greene's "The Destructors," features teenagers who destroy a man's house by flooding it. Ms. Pomeroy is fired and Mr. Monnittoff, who is also her boyfriend, refuses to discuss time travel with Donnie once his questions take a theological direction.
Gretchen and Donnie grow closer. She is one of the few people he opens up to about his time travel visions, and they discuss how they wish they could travel back in time and prevent the bad things in their lives from happening. Dr. Thurman increases Donnie's medication and begins hypnotherapy with him. But Frank continues to appear to Donnie. One night, Donnie and Gretchen go to see a horror movie. Gretchen falls asleep and Frank appears. When Donnie asks Frank to remove his bunny suit, Frank asks Donnie to remove his human suit, then acquiesces and takes the head off, revealing a young adult with a gruesome wound in his right eye. When Donnie asks about the cause of the eye wound, Frank whispers "I am so sorry" and then directs Donnie's attention to the movie screen. A portal opens, revealing Jim Cunningham's house. Frank tells Donnie to burn it to the ground. Donnie leaves the sleeping Gretchen in the theatre and does as Frank tells him to. He is not caught, and firefighters discover a kiddy porn dungeon in a hidden room in the mansion. Cunningham is arrested the next morning. Kitty Farmer, a friend and devoted follower of Cunningham's, decides she must lead his public defense and asks Rose to accompany the school's dance team, Sparkle Motion, to Los Angeles to appear on Star Search. Samantha is Sparkle Motion's lead dancer and, against her better judgment, Rose agrees. Because Eddie is away on business, this means Elizabeth and Donnie are on their own.
Elizabeth is accepted into Harvard, and she and Donnie decide to throw a Halloween party to celebrate. The night of the party (October 30), Gretchen comes to Donnie's house for safety because her mother has suddenly disappeared. Donnie comforts her and they make love, ignoring phone calls from Donnie's desperate therapist (who knows that Donnie is responsible for the vandalism to the high school and Jim Cunningham's house) and Rose, who calls to announce that Sparkle Motion won their initial Star Search competition and that they will return on a red eye flight that night.
At midnight, Donnie has another hallucination about the fluid light tunnels. He realizes that the 28 days have passed, and that only 6 hours remain until the end of the world. Convinced that Grandma Death is in some way connected to Frank, Donnie persuades Gretchen and two other friends to go with him to her house. When they get there, they are assaulted by the high school's resident bullies (Alex Greenwald and Seth Rogen). Gretchen is thrown dazed into the road, where she is struck and killed by a car driven by Frank (James Duval), Elizabeth's boyfriend who is on his way to their Halloween party. Frank is wearing the creepy bunny costume that Donnie's hallucination wears. Donnie uses his father's gun to shoot Frank in the right eye, killing him, then carries Gretchen's body to his home. He steals the car keys from a sleeping Elizabeth and, taking Gretchen with him, drives into the hills above town.
From that vantage point, Donnie can see a time tunnel forming over the town. The red eye flight carrying Rose and Sparkle Motion enters the turbulence created by the time tunnel, and one of the engines on the jet breaks free and falls into the tunnel. Donnie looks at Gretchen with love and then drives into the time tunnel.
It is October 2. Donnie lies in bed, laughing, happy. Shortly after he goes to sleep, the jet engine from the red eye flight on October 30 crashes through the roof, killing him. Throughout town, Dr. Thurman, Mr. Monnitoff, Kitty Farmer, Jim Cunningham and Frank all are suddenly troubled and sad. The next morning, Gretchen rides her bike to the Darkos' house. Elizabeth, Eddie and Samantha stand sobbing as Donnie's corpse is taken away, while Rose smokes a cigarette a few feet away, doing her best to deal with the fact that her last encounter with her troubled son was the unpleasant confrontation in his bedroom. Gretchen finds out from a young boy what had happened and who the family is, as she had never met Donnie. Touched by the tragedy, she shyly waves to Rose. Touched by a stranger's act of kindness, Rose waves back.
On the way to the office of Dr. Thurman (Katherine Ross), Donnie's therapist, Donnie and Eddie nearly run over Roberta Sparrow, also known as "Grandma Death" (Patience Cleveland). A senile old woman who spends her days shuffling back and forth between her house and the mailbox across the street. Grandma Death whispers in Donnie's ear that all that lives ultimately dies alone. This greatly troubles Donnie, who worries that life has no meaning.
A few days later, Frank appears to Donnie in a hallucination and encourages him to flood the private high school he attends by breaking open the water main with an ax. Donnie also embeds the ax in the head of the school's solid bronze statue of its mascot and spray paints "They made me do it" on the sidewalk. School is canceled that day and Donnie walks home with Gretchen (Jena Malone), the new girl in school. She reveals that her stepfather nearly killed her mother and is still on the loose. Donnie reveals his own troubled past as well as his intelligence. Gretchen decides that Donnie is weird and that this makes him attractive. They agree to become a couple.
Donnie has a troubled relationship with the faculty at his high school. Ms. Pomeroy (Drew Barrymore) appreciates his intellect and ability to engage with and understand the difficult material she assigns them to read in English class. The science teacher, Mr. Monnitoff (Noah Wyle), finds him a little more troubling, and Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant), the high strung and socially conservative health instructor, is offended that he questions her use of self-help tapes in class. After he profanely rejects her use of the simplistic methods espoused by local celebrity Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze), Donnie finds himself suspended from afterschool activities. When Donnie verbally assaults Cunningham during an appearance at the high school, he gets in even deeper trouble. Although the administration suspects that Donnie is indeed responsible for the vandalism, he is never charged.
Frank continues to appear to Donnie and tells Donnie that they can do anything and won't get caught. Frank also tells Donnie about time travel, further confusing him. Soon, Donnie sees tubes of fluid light extending out of his family's chests, indicating where they will go. His own tube beckons him to follow as it enters his parents' room and reveals the gun his father keeps in a box in the closet. Donnie speaks about time travel with Mr. Monnitoff who gives him a book, "The Philosophy of Time Travel," written by Roberta Sparrow. Sparrow used to be a nun and a teacher at the high school. However, the climate at the school is becoming increasingly conservative as Kitty Farmer leads a protest against Ms. Pomeroy's choice of reading material; one of the stories she had assigned, Graham Greene's "The Destructors," features teenagers who destroy a man's house by flooding it. Ms. Pomeroy is fired and Mr. Monnittoff, who is also her boyfriend, refuses to discuss time travel with Donnie once his questions take a theological direction.
Gretchen and Donnie grow closer. She is one of the few people he opens up to about his time travel visions, and they discuss how they wish they could travel back in time and prevent the bad things in their lives from happening. Dr. Thurman increases Donnie's medication and begins hypnotherapy with him. But Frank continues to appear to Donnie. One night, Donnie and Gretchen go to see a horror movie. Gretchen falls asleep and Frank appears. When Donnie asks Frank to remove his bunny suit, Frank asks Donnie to remove his human suit, then acquiesces and takes the head off, revealing a young adult with a gruesome wound in his right eye. When Donnie asks about the cause of the eye wound, Frank whispers "I am so sorry" and then directs Donnie's attention to the movie screen. A portal opens, revealing Jim Cunningham's house. Frank tells Donnie to burn it to the ground. Donnie leaves the sleeping Gretchen in the theatre and does as Frank tells him to. He is not caught, and firefighters discover a kiddy porn dungeon in a hidden room in the mansion. Cunningham is arrested the next morning. Kitty Farmer, a friend and devoted follower of Cunningham's, decides she must lead his public defense and asks Rose to accompany the school's dance team, Sparkle Motion, to Los Angeles to appear on Star Search. Samantha is Sparkle Motion's lead dancer and, against her better judgment, Rose agrees. Because Eddie is away on business, this means Elizabeth and Donnie are on their own.
Elizabeth is accepted into Harvard, and she and Donnie decide to throw a Halloween party to celebrate. The night of the party (October 30), Gretchen comes to Donnie's house for safety because her mother has suddenly disappeared. Donnie comforts her and they make love, ignoring phone calls from Donnie's desperate therapist (who knows that Donnie is responsible for the vandalism to the high school and Jim Cunningham's house) and Rose, who calls to announce that Sparkle Motion won their initial Star Search competition and that they will return on a red eye flight that night.
At midnight, Donnie has another hallucination about the fluid light tunnels. He realizes that the 28 days have passed, and that only 6 hours remain until the end of the world. Convinced that Grandma Death is in some way connected to Frank, Donnie persuades Gretchen and two other friends to go with him to her house. When they get there, they are assaulted by the high school's resident bullies (Alex Greenwald and Seth Rogen). Gretchen is thrown dazed into the road, where she is struck and killed by a car driven by Frank (James Duval), Elizabeth's boyfriend who is on his way to their Halloween party. Frank is wearing the creepy bunny costume that Donnie's hallucination wears. Donnie uses his father's gun to shoot Frank in the right eye, killing him, then carries Gretchen's body to his home. He steals the car keys from a sleeping Elizabeth and, taking Gretchen with him, drives into the hills above town.
From that vantage point, Donnie can see a time tunnel forming over the town. The red eye flight carrying Rose and Sparkle Motion enters the turbulence created by the time tunnel, and one of the engines on the jet breaks free and falls into the tunnel. Donnie looks at Gretchen with love and then drives into the time tunnel.
It is October 2. Donnie lies in bed, laughing, happy. Shortly after he goes to sleep, the jet engine from the red eye flight on October 30 crashes through the roof, killing him. Throughout town, Dr. Thurman, Mr. Monnitoff, Kitty Farmer, Jim Cunningham and Frank all are suddenly troubled and sad. The next morning, Gretchen rides her bike to the Darkos' house. Elizabeth, Eddie and Samantha stand sobbing as Donnie's corpse is taken away, while Rose smokes a cigarette a few feet away, doing her best to deal with the fact that her last encounter with her troubled son was the unpleasant confrontation in his bedroom. Gretchen finds out from a young boy what had happened and who the family is, as she had never met Donnie. Touched by the tragedy, she shyly waves to Rose. Touched by a stranger's act of kindness, Rose waves back.
Donnie Darko combines the familiar with the unfamiliar in
away that a modern audience can accept.
For young pupils the film has the basic appeal of a teen
comedy but these elements are quickly undermined and manipulated, leaving the
viewer uncertain as to the tale’s meaning.
‘Where is Donnie?’
This question is pinned to the front of the fridge, the
receptacle for family messages in the Darko
house, a seemingly average suburban home. A first time
viewer of Donnie Darko may well consider this question as equally appropriate to apply
to the film. Where can we place Donnie
Darko as
a film?
A film that for some, explores the deepest meanings of life
and the universe; for others, it is no more
than a retro pop
video, rich on style but lacking in any substance, with a few filmic
references that only the most hardcore sci-fi aficionados
would appreciate.
Seemingly not appreciated in its country of origin, at its
release, following the tragic events of
9/11, it became a hit when distributed in the UK and has
since developed a small and devoted
following of fans that endlessly debate and explore the
meaning of the film.
Its postmodern style and eclectic combination of sources,
within a familiar format, seem to be
indicative of a departure in style and content for a younger
market, encouraging young viewers to participate more actively in the text.
The film is not easily categorised and a first time viewer
of Donnie Darko is likely to leave the
cinema auditorium with more questions than answers. On the surface it appears a teen movie
for the MTV generation, focusing on the life of a trougled
protagonist, Donnie, and follows
many of the expected routes of the teen movie genre. Yet at
the same time it tackles themes and
issues which are unfamiliar. The multi-layered nature of the
text belies
the myth of a generation often criticised for its short
attention span.
Teen movies are often predictable and manipulative,
encouraging their young viewers to
subscribe to a whole range of ideological attitudes and values. Often reflecting life in a typical
American high school, with all its cliques and gangs, teen
movies often focus on a central
character that is out of step with their peers, thereby
reflecting the difficulties of growing up.
By the end of the story they have often achieved the
respect, admiration and acceptance of their
previously dismissive schoolmates. This normally involves a
process by which the protagonist
overcomes a cruel antagonist and is accepted for who they
are whilst falling in love with someone
who is accepted and respected. This search for self-realisation often goes
no
further than a realisation of physical beauty in the case of
girls, or the ability to triumph in the sporting arena for boys. This familiar plot encourages the young
viewer to empathise and associate with the tortured and
misunderstood central character while reinforcing societies’
existing dominant values such as
Donnie is certainly an outsider, a person who has little respect
for authority in his suburban school and
by the end of the story he does achieve fulfilment, but it
has little to do with his rites of
passage romantically, nor does it reflect his standing in
school. His realisation is one that
goes beyond the sort of status for which most young people
strive. It is an altogether more
spiritual fulfilment.
The film seems to invite its viewers to confront issues that many would
find uncomfortable.
Paedophiles, schizophrenia and arson are not the stuff of
most teen romances and yet all these are
featured in the tale.
"...what if you could go back in time, and take all those
hours of pain and darkness and replace them with something better?"
