NoFace for Film

Title: Donnie Darko (director’s cut)
Year: 2001
Director: Richard Kelly
Starring Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jenna Malone
Rated: R

NoFace for Film rating: 5.5 out of 7

Although Jake Gyllenhaal became famous for his role as a lovelorn cowboy in Brokeback Mountain, he first got people’s attention in his role as a disturbed teenager in Donnie Darko.

Set in 1988, Donnie Darko focuses on the strange events surrounding Donnie, a somewhat mentally unstable young man with a tendency to wake up in strange places due to his sleepwalking. A bizzare accident involving a jet engine and an encounter with a 6-foot tall talking bunny start a chain of events that can affect the fate of his family, friends, and the universe itself.

I can’t say much else about the film’s plot because it’ll give too much away. What I will say though, is that Donnie Darko is part psychological thriller and part science fiction, bending reality and leaving the audience to question throughout the film if the events occuring are real or simply all in Donnie’s troubled, confused mind.

As you can see, I really liked this movie. I thought that the premise was really cool, and when I get to the end and start putting all the pieces together, the more I realized how unique and original the plot was. Also, being that this was the director’s cut, there are some added scenes that help explain the plot further, which is a bonus for folks like me who need a lot of help in figuring out these kinds of films What I also enjoyed was that, as dark as the film is, there are many funny moments and quotable lines. One great scene was when Donnie was hanging out with his friends and they discuss the Smurfs, of all things.

I think that Gyllenhaal was quite convincing in portraying this intelligent but sometimes disturbing young man. Sometimes he’d be unsure of himself, and in the next scene he’d look downright scary. The supporting cast was overall pretty good. I especially loved Patrick Swayze as a pompous, self-help guru. He was hillarious. However, I thought that Drew Barrymore and Noah Wyle were rather flat and wooden in their supporting roles as Donnie’s English and Physics teachers. I even wondered what the hell Barrymore was doing in the movie until I saw in the credits that she was one of the producers.

I highly recommend this movie if you’re in the mood for something that’s rather dark yet funny, and makes you think and question reality.

By the way, if by the end of the movie you’re still confused, check out the Wikipedia article on Donnie Darko. It does a great job in breaking down the plot.

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