Dir: Richard Kelly. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jenna Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osbourne, Drew Barrymore, Noah Wyle, Patrick Swayze.
It shouldn’t be this way, but too many films fail to leave their mark on you, fail to make you leave the cinema in an emotional state, whether it be joy or melancholy. Too many films just waste your time, and fail to make you think for a second. Too many films just are simply not worth seeing. Donnie Darko is not one of these films - infact it is the opposite, a truly unconventional but unreservedly wonderful piece of cinema, that deserves to be seen by all. Donnie Darko is a true cinematic achievement, a film filled with pathos, intelligence, incredible performances and ideas, which is not just one of the best films of this year, but of any year.
Comparisons have been made with David Lynch, but whilst it certainly covers similar ground at times, and structurally it's certainly unusual, it feels more natural than Lynch's world, less perverse, less dark and disturbed. Director Kelly is more playful as well, and the mix of high comedy and true oddness works so well, and neither feel out of place with each other. Set in 1988, it details the struggles of youth from the perspective of Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal), a high school kid suffering from emotional troubles, who often suffers from hallucinations and who is in therapy to cope with the complexities of existence. You sense that there is to be no conventional happy ending from the beginning, when a six foot rabbit called Frank informs Donnie that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and
Gyllenhaal is superb, and there has been no more natural a portrayal of teenage confusion, and mental illness, on the screen in years, and within moments of appearing he truly makes you care for him. It’s hard to imagine any actor in his age group capable of handling the complexities of the role so well, and though they rarely reflect the best of the cinematic year, if he’s not nominated for Best Actor then it’ll be one of the academy’s greatest mistake. Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osbourne are the kind of parents you'll wish you had, finding their children a source of confusion at times, yes, but also humour even at the most unsuitable of times, and allow them to make their own way through life - trusting and smart (and how rarely do you see that in a film?), but even they are unable to stop events from taking place. Drew Barrymore and Noah Wyle portray Donnie’s teachers sympathetically and admirably, and there simply isnt a bad performance in the film - yes, even Patrick Swayze's good - though playing a smug, unlikeable character was hardly going to be a stretch for the actor.
Director Richard Kelly, who also wrote the script, clearly has a passion for cinema, and plays with ideas and form but its never a case of style over content. It's beautiful to watch, carefully lit for maximum impact, and the soundtrack is also perfectly used, a mix of eighties pop and alternative music that always enhances scenes, and never distracts, and the several which are set only to music work so well you wonder why this practice isnt used in every film. It never runs out of energy, it never fails to surprise, to shake up the audience, to give in to easy answers or loses the ability to affect you. What more can you ask from a film?
This will top many critics end of year lists for sure, but it deserves more than this. Twenty years from now, it will still be a film that you should see. If you're tired of being patronised, if you're tired of feeling absolutely nothing when leaving the cinema, or worse than that, the taste of disappointment in your mouth, then you simply have no choice, you must see this film.
Alex Finch.
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