Donnie Darko

Jake Gyllenhaal is the eponymous teenager who just doesn't really fit in. Ever since he was a young child, he has struggled and it's only "Gretchen" (Jena Malone) who has anything to do with him. It's maybe on the psychiatrists couch that he seems most able to relax - under hypnosis - and under that influence we embark on quite a curious learning curve that follows "Donnie" from childhood through the turbulence of his adolescence. Now his development might not have been helped by the arrival of an aircraft engine through his roof, so his body's self defence mechanisms seem to be seeking solace from his friend "Frank". No, he's not real - well not unless life-sized bunnies have escaped up the looking glass, and when he is told that the world will end in just short of one month's time, then it's time to find his psychological TARDIS - or as near as he can. Why did he survive the accident? Well that's the question that continues to plague him as his torments mount and his frustrations begin to manifest themselves in petty criminality and a testing of his relationship with his only real friend "Gretchen". Now I don't know about you, but until now I'd never thought of bunny rabbits as being the least menacing. Think "Thumper" from "Bambi" (1942) and that's about it. Here, though, auteur Richard Kelly uses the light - well mostly the dark - to create quite a sense of peril as young "Donnie" seems to lose what little grasp of the plot he ever had. It's also quite darkly comical at times, with the rather potent script treading a line between fact and fiction in an engagingly blurred fashion. Gyllenhaal plays the part well, adding a vulnerability to a role that is quite difficult to define and as we progress, well some of our earlier assumptions become just a little more fluid. The haunting Gary Jules version of the Tears For Fears "Mad World" song tops a strong 1980s soundtrack and the whole film has an ethereal eeriness to it that I did quite enjoy.

**A strange film, with a strong visual impact and a script with wild theories, but which fulfills its objective very well and is enjoyable to watch.** I saw this film very recently, and I have to agree with all those who label it “strange” or “bizarre”. Directed and written by Richard Kelly, it stars a young Jake Gyllenhaal and offers us a very complex plot where a young teenager commits several crimes under the influence of an imaginary friend who dresses up as a rabbit. Everything indicates that this young man is schizophrenic or psychotic in some way, and has developed several linked obsessions, but the film always leaves us in doubt as to whether he is, in some way, right about the things he thinks. There are several films that follow similar scripts, where imagination and psychopathy are almost indistinguishable from reality (“Fight Club”, “Machinist”, etc.) and this is perhaps one of the most surreal because it allows us to see, from the beginning, that something is very wrong. That's a bonus for those who like these types of films because it's easy to keep our attention. Of course, those who are less fond of cinematic oddities won't have much reason to be satisfied. And if it is true that, on a technical level, the film does not present any major innovations or surprises, it is also true that it does everything very correctly and without problems or gross errors. We can even say that, considering the budget, it is one of those films that seems more expensive than it is. In addition, we must also mention the beautiful performance of the cast, where each one seems to do what needs to be done with correctness and restraint. Gyllenhaal has the right strength and charisma for his role and does an excellent job, and Jena Malone proves to be an intelligent and well-considered addition.

A complete mind-bender of a movie that put Jake Gyllenhall on the map, introduced the creepiest rabbit costume of all time, and may make you surprisingly tear up to a remake of Tears for Fears "Mad World."