Killer Rabbit!!. Review on Donnie Darko Movie

Eddie Darko: Frankie Feedler ...You remember him? From high school.

Eddie Darko: They said he was doomed. Jesus. They could have said the same thing about Donnie.

This is the conversation that occurs between Donnie's parents at the start of the movie and I must admit I was hooked from then on.

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhall) is a dark, psychological thriller about a disturbed teen who is described as pathologically schizophrenic by his psychiatrist. He suffers from hallucinations and has actually burned down a building and has to be kept back from school and go for sessions with a psychiatrist. We follow Donnie's actions and decisions from Oct 2nd to Oct 31st (Halloween). On Oct 2nd he meets a giant bunny rabbit called Frank who tells him that the world is going to end on October 31st. To Donnie who lives his life popping a lot of medication, this is a momentous event as Frank saves his life a little later on, and he decides that he will do whatever Frank tells him to do. The movie follows the aftermaths of this event in every aspect of Donnie's life, his interactions with his parents, siblings, school mates, school teachers and girlfriend, Gretchen. There are also sub-plots involving an over-zealous teacher at school and Patrick Swayze as Jim Cunningham, a sort of new-age guru who believes that the entire range of human actions is due to feelings of fear or love and advises his followers to identify and thus overcome fear by converting it to love.

The look of the movie is extremely slick and stylish. The overall mood is supposed to be disturbing and edgy and the director (Richard Kelley) ably produces such an atmosphere. The only A-list actor in this movie is Drew Barrymore (who is also the producer) and she's an English teacher at Donnie's school. I guess this is the reason, her character though secondary is given so much screen time even though (I feel) she's just taking up space in the movie. The performances by all the actors are quite good, especially Jake Gyllenhall and the change that occurs in him when Donnie is undergoing a schizophrenic attack can raise the hair on the back of your neck, it's so creepy!! As the movie progresses, the director produces a feeling of tension that is so palpable that you are almost waiting for something awful to happen. I wont divulge any more of the plot, since most of the plot build-up would be completely spoiled and it's a movie which is all the more better if looked at with an unbiased eye!

Coming to my reactions to the movie. I'm not sure I really liked the movie. It was too weird for my taste and the plot effect at the end of the movie seemed extremely gimmicky to me. But, I would say it's worth a one-time watch, for the acting, the screenplay which is brilliant and totally absorbing, the soundtrack which picks up the central moods of the movie very well and the directing. Alongwith being disturbing, this is one of the movies with an open-ended plot so basically you can have any interpretation of the plot that you like. I discussed it with 3 friends and all of us had a different interpretation. So, my grouse is that I didnt understand the movie too well, but I'm not one of those people who would spend time re-watching just to get a better idea. There are subplots involving the English teacher, a Chinese student, a talent show, and I just had no clue what they were about!! However, there is a rabbit that has to be seen to believed :) The rabbit is my single most favourite thing in the whole movie. This movie attained something of a cult classic status in the US with many websites devoted to it. But, basically if you like dark, psycho-logical thrillers which will have you heatedly debating with friends for hours afterwards, this is it!

One of my favorite quotes from the movie is one where Frank and Donnie are discussing the rabbit aspect, but as it reveals too much, I wont put it in here :) Another one is ..

School Bully(in the process of beating up Donnie, and police sirens sounding in the background): Did you call the cops ?

Donnie: Our Saviour

The screenplay is snappy and has a whole lot of quotes like this, some profound and others which are funny. I'll leave you with one which most influenced me ...

Grandma Death: Every living creature dies alone.