Donnie Darko (2001)

I have been procrastinating with writing a review of Donnie Darko as it is a film that I hold close to my heart and I don't think that my words could do it justice. The reason being that on a human level (although it seems at face value to be a bizarre tale of time travel) I felt that I could relate to it. It captures the angst of being a teenager as well as Kurt Cobain transcribed it into music (which is praise indeed). The plot is elusive and it takes more than one viewing to decipher what it actually is however this is most definitely not a flaw. It's labyrinthine plot has earned it a legacy. I first saw it when I was just starting secondary school and I became obsessed with anything related with the film. I had the Donnie Darko: Tangent universe webpage marked as a favourite which I would treat as some sacred scripture always trying to get my head around the Roberta Sparrow Philosophy of time travel, which I would spend hours pouring over. I would reference it to my friends who I considered to be naive as they didn't treat the film with the same level of respect as I did. I speak in the past tense as it was a time in my life when I was a mopey, quite individual (the latter of which I am now a juxtapose to). The basics of the plot are that Donnie is a paranoid schizophrenic who is out one night under the trance of his "imaginary" friend Frank (there is some ambiguity to whether he is real or not). Frank is a six-foot high rabbit/bunny who tells him that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and twelve seconds. Whilst he has been absent from the warm comfort of his home a jet engine has fallen on his room. He goes back to school, meets a girl called Gretchen and he has to deal with the problem of an object from a tangent universe (the jet engine) being in this one. Jake Gyllenhaal delivers a chilling performance as the titular character which is key as the film essentially revolves around him. One cannot simply judge the film on one viewing, fortunately I have seen it twice so I am able to comment. I personally hold the same opinion as I did when I was an uptight, narcissistic incarnation of myself. It simply transcends the level of being a film and seems to resonate in such a way that I am convinced that there is something about it deeply rooted in nature. The music is another brilliant aspect of the film. From the opening scene orchestrated by The killing moon by Echo and the bunnymen all the way up to the tears for fears cover of Mad world the soundtrack is vibrant and full of life. It features Head over heels by Tears for fears, Love will tear us apart by Joy division (which any NME reader will probably tell you is one of the greatest songs of all time and it's hard to disagree) and the afore mentioned tracks which open and close the film with such melancholic grace. In my opinion the film is flawless, which means a lot coming from me. I would recommend anyone to watch it and if you don't enjoy it the first time watch it again until you do.