Donnie Darko (2001)

Sleeper hits rarely pass me by, so when I first watched Donnie Darko on DVD back in 2003 I was shocked. How did I not see this in theaters? In 2004 the Belcourt theater in Nashville ran the director's cut and I went twice… I love this movie that much.

If you haven't seen it, the main story is about Donnie, a dark and troubled teenager who is visited by someone in a twisted bunny suit who tells him the world is going to end in twenty-eight days. The mysteries — who's in the bunny suit, what does it mean that the world will end, what is Donnie supposed to do about it — are slowly answered as we experience high school life through his eyes. It's a good life to be sure… Donnie has great parents and siblings and friends, he's smart and excels at school… there's little to complain about. But the great paradox of youth is how one can be so unhappy in such circumstances. Donnie is darkly intelligent, always in tune to the lies and deceit of his elders, and he feels that something is very much wrong in his universe. The film becomes an exploration of where this feeling comes from and what he might be able to do about it.

Donnie Darko is rich with story. There are several sub-plots and secondary characters that slowly reveal their details over repeated viewings. Even with a life of their own, these dark alleys of the story serve a greater purpose in Donnie's tale. It's hard to talk specifics about the main plot without giving too much away, but I'll give you this much: this is a movie about god. Not in a religious sense, but in a very natural, philosophical, and spiritual sense. It's about how one guy discovers his place in the order of things. At the same time it's a fantastic character study about being a teenager. It deals with situations and emotions that still resonate strongly with me.

That's not to say Donnie Darko is perfect. Far from it. It was director Richard Kelly's first film, and in many ways it shows. The "science" used and discussed is at times laughable and there are glaring holes in the story. In a way the film succeeds because of these issues, rather than in spite of them. They serve as compliments to Donnie's unstable world and add a certain charm to the experience. Am I being an apologist? So sue me.

To me the most fascinating aspect is the world Richard Kelly created beyond the film. With so much going on it's impossible to fully understand the meaning behind everything without watching the director's cut and reading the supplemental book that was released (it was written by one of the movie's characters). The internet overflows with discussions about every scene in excruciating detail, especially the ending. This is one of those films that encourages — even necessitates — ongoing conversation, and in the world of art and entertainment surely that is the biggest compliment a filmmaker can receive.