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'Donnie Darko' is a tough film to understand, one in which the audience must pay very close attention to. It's creepy yet smart, directed and written by Richard Kelly, its certainly a trip into unknown territory. Dealing with teenage love, schitzophrenia and time travel, many elements of this movie are used throughout. The lead character is Donnie Darko, as played well by Jake Gyllenhaal. One of the things I loved about the movie though is how they blend together layer after layer of plot elements and stuff and it still works out perfectly. I can't believe it took me this long to actually sit down and watch it. 'Donnie Darko' is a perfect movie which shows the true art of directing and how films should be made. During the presidential election of 1988, a teenager named Donnie Darko sleepwalks out of his house one night, and sees a giant, demonic-looking rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. He returns home the next morning to find that a jet engine has crashed through his bedroom. As he tries to figure out why he survived and tries to deal with people in his town, like the school bully, his conservative health teacher, and a self-help guru, Frank continues to turn up in Donnie's mind, causing him to commit acts of vandalism and worse. Jake Gyllenhaal really stood out to me after his bizarre yet amazing performance in Jughead, in which he played an American soldier in Iraq. After I think about it though, Jake is always going for these roles which are not even close to average, they always have to have more to them then what the plot or film even suggests. Donnie's mother had placed him in therapy, where he brings out the points about the end of the world and his new imaginary friend named Frank. Frank is a six foot tall talking bunny, he's creepy and makes Donnie do things he shouldnt do, but all this is for a reason. It seems as if everything Frank makes him do, makes a difference in everyones life, but it always seems like a positive difference. This is funny because Frank makes him do things which are wrong and never should be done. It all works though with the ending of the film, when everything is finally wrapped up we see the real reason for the crimes he has commited. Jake is challenged here, challenged by the fact that Darko is nowhere near normal. He meets a girl named Joanie James, who changes his life forever. Donnie knows he's weird and admits that this is the reason he has no friends, Joan excepts the fact that he may be a little strange, but there's more to him then imaginary friends and traveling time. This relationship seems to be the thing which puts Donnie's life on track and will change the planned end of the world scenario. Jakes performance is astounding as Donnie, its a real work of art the way he has built this character from the ground up. I really liked Jazzie Mahannah as Joan, she seemed to be the perfect girl for Donnie. She is strange to and her and Donnie kind of fit together just right. Time travel is an element in which many movies attempt to make right. The Butterfly Effect was one of the more major films which tackled the subject. Each film seems to have a different approach though, not every one of them being smart or even creative. Theres no real description to how time travel affects Donnie or the conclusion of the film, we are left confused and must figure it out on our own. You think one thing is going on then next thing you know, it doesnt work because something happened which stopped what your thinking from happening. It is confusing and a little strange, but it works in the film because the whole movie is weird and we never fully understand anything, need it be characters or actions. 'Donnie Darko' is a perfect movie, with no real problems it never gets boring. Though most of the film is chit-chat, its good chit-chat. See it, its definitely worth every minute. email this review to a friend
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