The guy who loaned me The Big Lebowski told me that I needed to see Donnie Darko. I had never even heard of it. Said it was a cult classic.
Wow. It’s wild. Cult classic is the right. It’s deep. It’s complex. It’s outright bizarre. And it’ll probably take a few viewings to really understand all of it.
Before I talk about the movie, though, let me offer a few words. It was made on the cheap — $4.5 million. It was made to go straight to video, but ended up seeing a few theaters (and didn’t break even there, either). It’s had rave reviews from the critics. And it’s got a selection of big name stars in it — Mary McDonnell, Drew Barrymore, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Seth Rogen, Patrick Swayze, and Noah Wyle. OK, maybe Patrick Swayze isn’t that impressive.
Donnie Darko is a strange and troubled teenager. Troubles, I guess, because things happen to him that don’t happen to others. He’s on meds — he’s showing signs of paranoid schizophrenia. Sometimes he takes them, sometimes he doesn’t. And he sleep walks. And he acts out.
Oh, and he sees a giant rabbit named Frank. Who talks to him, and tells him that the world is going to end in 28 days.
On a very simple level, the movie is a tale of troubled kid dealing with his troubles. He acts out, he’s confrontational, he’s trying to make his way through what he knows is a giant mess.
And then there are the other levels. The movie is about time travel. About rifts, and the abstract, and the possible and the fantastic. If it was just about a troubled kid, you could see this movie once and move on. But the whole time travel thing changes everything. It’s wildly woven together to make for a deep and rich sub-plot to the story. It’s awesome.
But beyond there are so deeper topics still. Is man free? Do we even have free will, or are our lives and actions pre-determined? What exists, and what doesn’t? But, I think we’re suppose to stop just at the time travel stuff, and not venture too far off the bridge into this stuff. Don’t get too wrapped up in the rabbits, or your devotion to Sparkle Motion.
This probably won’t be in my Top 10 of the summer, but if I get a chance to see it a few more times, I’m sure it’ll move up the list some.
Drew Barrymore does a decent job in this movie, but it’s rather mechanical. Noah Wyle does a better job. Mary McDonnell does a great job as Donnie’s mom — I can’t imagine watching your child act like this. Patrick Swayze has officially jumped the shark — he’s such a B-grade actor now, not having made anything good since Point Break back in 1991.
Oh, and the soundtrack? This is 1988 — the soundtrack rocks. Here, on Amazon.
