Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko is a psychological thriller. The writers of this film want the story to stay with people and leave the meaning of the film open to interpretation. This type of film may interest people because they give you something to think about; with many having complex plots, deep meanings, possible controversial topics and different aspects that will leave you asking questions. In the film, a teenage boy called Donnie Darko suffers from schizophrenia and he sees a giant bunny called ‘Frank’, that, on their first meeting, tells him when the world will end. Every night Frank would talk to him and tell him to do crazy and illegal things to scare the locals, while other strange and somewhat supernatural events occur. The characters in this film have an impact on Donnie’s life in some way, of vice versa. The closest people to him are his family and teachers who are all partially responsible for Donnie’s behaviour. During the day, the lighting and colours are bright and help make the scenes more positive and lively. However, during the night, it is quite dark, which helps those scenes become eerie and mysterious. It also gives it a bleak and creepy atmosphere, as most of the night scenes are dark, scary, sad or depressing. It is set in a small urban area in the 1980s, with the scenes in a house, a school and the countryside nearby. A lot of these places look beautiful during the day. In my opinion, this film was confusing while watching, but less confusing after reflecting on it after it had finished. I had seen this film once before and I did not understand it then, but after watching it a second time I understand it a little more. The story was somewhat depressing, but it kept me interested and made me want to know what happens next. I became slightly invested in some of the characters, especially Donnie because his personality had a lot of depth.