Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is a psychological thriller about a troubled teen whose life goes topsy turvy the moment he met a mysterious man in a bunny suit.

Absurd. Yeah. Donnie Darko does not attempt to wow with its plot or logic, but is rather savoured like a cocktail of different, conflicting themes. Time travel, nihilism, destiny, angst, all these themes are fashionable ones at the turn of the millennium when this film was released, thus easily explaining how it became a cult classic.

Donnie Darko meets man in bunny suit, follows his voice, avoids jet engine falling into his room, bunny suit guy tells him that the world will end in 28 days.

The movie's saving grace is that it does not pretend to make sense. It brings the viewer into a rollercoaster ride of events, each more in-your-face than the previous, such that the next bend is always more thrilling than the previous. Cinematography is done well - nothing too outlandish - it's good simply because there's no way to fault it.

Stifled acting galore. It's one thing for Jake Gyllenhaal to act as a shy, withdrawn Donnie Darko, but another for him to appear withdrawn acting as a withdrawn teen. Everyone overacts a little in the movie, but that's fitting to the style.

The soundtrack is excellent, including very aptly placed songs such as Echo and the Bunnymen's (yay, bunny) The Killing Moon as the opening theme, and the famous cover of Mad World by Gary Jules as the closing track.

Should you watch it? Well, you may like it, for you may identify with the themes and the characters in the movie. But if you're looking for something more polished, like most of us do, Donnie Darko simply doesn't cut it.

Grade: 3/5