Donnie Darko Review
by Ryan Ellis (flickershows AT hotmail DOT com)January 15th, 2004
Donnie Darko
a plot analysis
(major spoilers within)
by Ryan Ellis
January 14, 2004
A warning off the top---this piece is intended only for those who have seen 'Donnie Darko'. I've going to delve deep into the story, the plot, the twists, the turns, and I'll give away just about all the secrets in the process. If you haven't seen the movie yet, watch it before I ruin it for you.
Do yourself a favour and rent the 'Donnie Darko' DVD again tonight. Or at least tomorrow. Okay, the day after that. Just make sure you see it again soon. See, I'm a veteran of this movie. After seeing it on pan 'n' scan home video about 10 months ago, I recently decided to buy the DVD and see it in its 2.35:1 widescreen format with digital sound. After all, this movie is beautifully made, considering the budget was a mere $4.5 million. So now that I've seen it twice, listened to both commentary tracks, watched all 20 deleted scenes, and read the reviews of some respected film critics, this is the end result---I STILL don't know what exactly is going on with this film! Perhaps that's why it mystifies me and why it's been set aside in my collection with other overlooked masterworks (including '12 Monkeys' and 'Pleasantville'). This picture is bound (hey, there's another small treasure, 'Bound') to gain a cult following as the years pass and timid old-fogey films from its era fall by the wayside. 'Donnie Darko' gets better the more you see it, think about it, and FAIL to understand it. If you were in the "huh?" club after you saw it the first time, don't worry. We're all there with you.
And the complexities of this project start with its screenplay. You cannot discuss 'Donnie Darko' without highlighting writer/director Richard Kelly. The man was only 26 when this film hit theatres in October '01. 26! Steven Spielberg was only 29 when 'Jaws' put him on the map. Orson Welles was just about to turn 26 when 'Citizen Kane' came out in 1941. And Spike Jonze was just hitting 30 when 'Being John Malkovich' shot him onto the list of visionary directors. You won't often hear those 3 directors mentioned in one paragraph, nor would most people include Kelly with them. I put him in there to show how young some of the greatest natural-born filmmakers were when they made their attention-getting motion pictures. I suppose the biggest difference between Kelly and those others is that they were superstar directors from that point on. The helmsman of 'Donnie Darko' is still largely unknown. On the other hand, he stands alone in that he wrote his script alone and from scratch. In doing so, he came up with a wholely original idea while pillaging elements of past films to shape his own. Incidentally, his next project, 'Knowing', is slated to appear in theatres in 2004.
Jake Gyllenhaal, whose previous movie was 1999s 'October Sky' (yet another unsung great film!), is the perfect choice for the title character. As the sleepy-eyed doppelganger to superstar Tobey Maguire, Gyllenhaal was still a relatively unknown actor when 'Donnie Darko' was released. Although 'Moonlight Mile', 'Lovely & Amazing', and 'The Good Girl' were in the near future for young Jake, this picture showed everyone his intense talent. He would be required to play weird, inquisitive, violent, brilliant, psychotic, and, finally, a teenager. He's never less than believable. Ditto for his sister, Maggie, who plays his sister (Elizabeth) in the film too. For that matter, Holmes Osborne as their father, Daveigh Chase as their little sister, and the fabulous Mary McDonnell as their mother complete the portrait of a normal family in the 1980s. They have their disputes, but the 5 of them find a way to seem like an ideal, loving family without all the usual Disney pap. Normal, that is, if a family with Donnie at its centre can be anything less than extraordinary.
But you probably knew all that already, right? It's taken this long for me to get to the plot, but how do you give a synopsis of this film in a few sentences? Heck, the Internet Movie Database lists its genre as fantasy, drama, sci-fi, mystery AND thriller. That's 5 categories. (Most movies get put into one or two genres at most.) Here come the spoilers! Consider yourself warned... Set in October 1988, the film takes place over a period of 28 days. It seems Donnie has been waking up on roadside mountain-tops and on golf courses, regularly experiencing total black-outs. He's in therapy to work out these issues, even taking pills that turn out later to be merely placebos. His family (particularly his mother) are worried about him and they do indeed wonder if he's crazy. Then one night (October 2nd, to be precise), Donnie is awakened and called outside by a man-sized demon rabbit named Frank. Echoes of Jimmy Stewart's imaginary buddy in 'Harvey'? We later discover that Frank is Elizabeth's boyfriend (as confirmed by Kelly on the DVD commentary), a harmless-looking teenager under the serpentine rabbit head. Frank warns Donnie that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds. Just as Frank is giving his warning to Donnie, a jet engine crashes right through the Darko's roof, obliterating Donnie's bedroom. The house needs some carpentry, but the family is okay. [Now, what to make of what comes next? Is it just a glimpse of one possible, terrible future...] In the 4 weeks that follow, Donnie sees more visions of the prophetic rabbit, confesses dark secrets to his therapist (Katharine Ross), floods his school, burns down the house of a hypocritical televangelist (Patrick Swayze), and becomes the boyfriend of the new girl in school, Gretchen (Jena Malone). And how could I forget that our hero starts to see "wormholes" coming out of people's chests, seeming to psychically illuminate where they are going in the immediate future. It's an eye-opener for Donnie and it leads him into the field of time travel. He starts to piece together that Frank's warning of armageddon and this concept of time travel are linked, and he himself is the key.
Now, you know that paragraph doesn't do justice to this movie. That description also didn't illustrate just how much black comedy is in Kelly's script. (I love the movie double-bill of 'The Evil Dead' and 'The Last Temptation Of Christ'. And there's a conversation about the Smurfs of which Kevin Smith would be proud.) This is a dizzying ride with one radical idea after another. The screen is bursting with plot threads and seemingly unconnected stories. If not all the subplots work (Drew Barrymore, the film's executive producer, and Noah Wyle play frustrated school teachers who don't have enough screen time to develop their fascinating characters), you're too busy trying to keep up to notice. Kelly's DVD commentary with Gyllenhaal fleshes out his intentions, which only makes one ask more questions. Not that I'm complaining. Most flicks can't be bothered to string two interesting scenes together, let alone construct a framework as intricate as this one. 'Donnie Darko' seems to be about fate & destiny, God & science, super-heroes & super-villains. For every evil rabbit, there's a scared kid under the hood. For every revered televangelist, there's his stash of kiddie porn in a hidden room. For every life lost on this movie's judgment day, there's one person who understands that his own death can right the universe and save lives.
One enlightening moment occurs during a wonderful discussion between Donnie and Professor Monnitoff (Wyle). Just as Donnie seems to be latching onto something important with his theories about time travel, Monnitoff interjects with "I'm not going to be able to continue this conversation...I could lose my job." Why? Because Donnie has brought God into the equation. It's worth noting that they're standing in a Catholic school and the intellectual area they're getting into is the existence of God. Monnitoff doesn't seem to be the kind of man who believes in the rigid curriculum he must teach at that school, and now he's snuffing out the passionate interest of a kid who's finally excited about something. Teachers probably dream about having kids as smart and curious as the Darko boy, but the system won't make time for Donnie and his kookie ideas. When he finally realizes that time travel offers him a choice, he chooses to go back to that instant when the jet engine crashed through his bedroom. He will die, but none of the other events we've seen in this "glimpse"---good or bad---will happen either (at least not in quite the same way).
It's a wonderful sacrifice, and it parallels the one in 'The Last Temptation Of Christ'. Is that why Kelly chose Scorsese's passion project for his movie-house marquee? That film features one of the most-powerful moments in the history of cinema, where Jesus' final temptation is the reward of a normal life and he must make the choice to die on the cross to save mankind instead. Donnie's sacrifice may not be as world-changing as J.C.'s, but the cinematic comparison seems apt. Is 'Donnie Darko' suggesting as 'Last Temptation' did that this is all just a hallucination a moment before death? As for the super-hero idea, it's what Kelly discusses at length in his commentary. Gretchen scoffs at one point, "Donnie Darko? What the hell kind of name is that? It's like, some sort of super-hero or something." His perfect response---"what makes you think I'm not?" According to Kelly, Donnie IS a super-hero (the initials D.D. lend credence to the idea). His sacrifice saves his girlfriend, Frank, his mother and his little sister, and perhaps others by accepting his fate and going back in time to die. What's more heroic than that?
Topping it all off is a soundtrack of hit-making proportions...or should I say that the movie features songs that could be hits ONCE AGAIN. Tears For Fears' "Head Over Heels", Duran Duran's "Notorious" (accompanying the Sparkle Motion dance routine), and a redone version of Roland Orzabal's "Mad World" are as perfect for the scenes they accompany as any songs in recent years. "Mad World" is a song with the power to haunt you and stay in your head for weeks afterwards, as it's done for me. As for other technical credits on this film, the cinematography by Steven Poster is not showy, even when the camera finds itself roaming everywhere. In other words, you see without noticing. Every other aspect of the production is tight and professional, placing this film firmly in 1988 without being quaint or, worse, anachronistic. The visual effects work well, even if they're not as flashy or perfect as other entries in 2001. Then again, maybe the good-not-great F/X sets the film properly in its '88 timeframe all the more. With such a small budget, Kelly's crew should be commended for maximizing the money and bringing every element together to help him tell his story.
Would I be so bold as to claim there's no weakness in a film that isn't on my Top 10 list from that year, nor is it a DVD I owned until just a few weeks ago? Am I overpraising here? I don't think so. The worst complaint anyone could make of 'Donnie Darko' is that it's TOO full of ideas and concepts. If so, maybe the numerous genres topple the entire picture. And there might be a few too many characters crammed into a 113-minute film. I certainly don't feel these issues damage the end product, but detractors might very well feel that way. So be it. Still, if the non-believers don't see the power of the euphoric smile on Jake Gyllenhaal's face in his climactic moment on screen, they haven't paid attention. To be able to find human truth in such a fantasy speaks volumes...
During the final seconds when Gretchen and Mrs. Darko exchange a wave and a faint flicker of recognition, the film finds a comforting compassion. Through it all, with the multitude of ideas and concepts and even the clever in-jokes, there's a heart too. If Richard Kelly has done nothing else, he's proven that he can engage your deepest feelings while confusing the heck out of you. But if you see the movie a second or third time, not only will you start to figure things out, you'll probably feel the emotion you may have missed before. While 2001 was the year of the puzzle film ('Memento', 'Mulholland Dr.', and 'Vanilla Sky', to name three), it's 'Donnie Darko' that could be the movie I puzzle over the most for years to come. This is one time I'm happy to be confused. Understand?
To contact me with kudos or criticism or to kick the plot around some more, feel free to write to [email protected].
Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
