Donnie Darko is one of those films I've heard spoken of with a certain reverence. When I first heard about Donnie Darko circa 2001-2002, I thought they were talking about Donnie Brasco with Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.
Released in October 2001, just over a month after the 9/11 attacks, Donnie Darko would not fare well at the box office, but would soon become a word of mouth, cult classic as attested by the comments I've heard about it over the years.
Nevertheless, I never really felt the compulsion to see Donnie Darko until I took in a screening at the Brattle Theatre last night. And even then, it was one of those times that I just wanted to get out of the house. My room is getting hot, and my air conditioner has yet to be installed.
Donnie Darko stars Jake Gyllenhaal and also features sister Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Drew Barrymore (who also served as an Executive Producer), Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, Katharine Ross and Seth Rogen making his film debut.
The film is set in October 1988 in the runup to the presidential election between Geroge H.W. Bush and Mike Dukakis. Indeed, the first line of the film Elizabeth Darko (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who says, "I'm voting for Dukakis." Given that we are in Massachusetts, this provoked some laughter.
Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a mentally disturbed teenager who has a habit of staying out all night at the behest of a six foot plus rabbit. This habit ends up saving his life as an airplane engine falls into his room. However, the six foot plus rabbit then tells him the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds.
The incident makes him something of a folk hero at his private school and soon he meets a new student Gretchen (Jena Malone) and soon they are going together. However, the rabbit is telling Darko to perform more and more deranged and gruesome acts while at the same time becomes fascinated with time travel when he discovers that an old woman who roams the street authored a book called The Philosophy of Time Travel.
With the confluence of the two events and Gretchen's death hours before the world is to end, Darko decides it is best that he travel back in time to the night the airplane engine falls into his room. With his death, Gretchen can live without having ever met him and the world can go on.
Donnie Darko is, well, dark but deep.
With the presence of a six foot plus rabbit, it is easy to compare Donnie Darko to Harvey, the 1950 film starring Jimmy Stewart in which Harvey, a man with mental health issues, is best friends with a six-foot rabbit. However, Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly has claimed he never saw Harvey.
I am inclined to believe Kelly because as the film proceeds it is clear that the rabbit is Darko's friend Frank. Yet it is unclear if Darko is also imagining Frank, if Frank is dead and he is seeing him as a rabbit or if Frank is alive and just dresses up as a rabbit. I also must admit there were times I couldn't hear all of the dialogue, so it is quite possible I missed something.
Whatever the truth of the matter, I can see why Donnie Darko resonates with people. Perhaps a second viewing is in order.
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