Donnie DarkoAdolescence is a time in our lives when we are challenged, when we are seeing the world in a new way, and when we are really forced to learn from our mistakes, and understand the consequences of our actions. It is a time of transition, a state of Limbo between childhood and adulthood, when we are neither fully one or the other, in the tunnel between two points of light. Growing up is hard enough, between managing school, hormones, understanding what we like and what we don't; the added burden of manifestation of a death-like anthropomorphic rabbit--a harbinger of doom--is the last thing Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) needs.
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Donnie Darko deals in the almost inconceivable combination of teen angst and armageddon--inconceivable, until you stop to consider that as teenagers, weren't they kind of the same thing? Donnie's past is somewhat checkered; he is stricken by bouts of sleepwalking, he has a history of destructive actions--burning down an empty house has kept him back a year at school, and he's seeing a psychologist as a result, taking medication. But Donnie's world changes dramatically when he is called from his bed one night by a voice, coming from a figure dressed like a rabbit (albeit one more at home on a heavy metal album cover), calling him to warn him that the world will end in precisely "twenty-eight days, six hours, forty-two minutes, and twelve seconds". Donnie's response: "why"? The reason is at the crux of the story, that something is not what it should be, and the world Donnie is a part of is already through the looking glass; it is unsurprising then that he--like Alice in Wonderland--chases a rabbit, or is at least haunted by one. There are numerous references to mirrors and reflections throughout the film, those portals of introspection, such as when Donnie confronts Frank in his bathroom mirror. As Donnie looks at Frank through the barrier separating the two of them, he is, in fact, looking at us, and at himself, since the shot is framed to suggest he might only be looking into the bathroom mirror and nothing more. What is behind his bathroom mirror? His medicine, although it is questionable what the purpose of the pills really is. Is he fantasizing his visions of Frank? Is he really in a state of somnambulism when he carries out the acts of vandalism throughout the story? Does he really believe someone else "made him do it"? The irony here is that for all of Donnie's visions, when a handwriting test is administered by the police and the school--making him and everyone write "they made me do it" on the chalkboard--the message is that the parties in power are these institutions, the choke hold over our individuality which make us do what we do not want to do. Do the pills help Donnie discover who he is in this key point in his life? Is "pharming" up junior really the path to identity? Is Donnie really crazy, or did he just stumble over something truly special about life and the universe, something only a very few select people can comprehend?
Amid the story of time travel, psychosis, puberty, et al, there are a few moments devoted to Donnie's time in his English literature class, taught by Karen Pomeroy (Drew Barrymore). One of the key stories they discuss in class is "The Destructors" by Graham Greene, and the content of the story partially parallels that of Donnie Darko. Even for those who never read the story--like Donnie's classmate--Ms. Pomeroy recaps the content for us, along with Donnie's response to her request for a thematic synopsis, enough that we can see the reflection. Just as the story is "an act of destruction as creation", so, too, are Donnie's efforts in the wake of his brush with death at the onset of his story. Donnie's acts of violence mirror those in the story--a point used against his English teacher at a PTA meeting by another teacher, Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant), whose obsession with a new wave guidance program foisted on the school by self-help drone, Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze) ends up embodying a far worse crisis than thought-provoking fiction. When Cunningham delivers a trite and hollow presentation to the school assembly, Donnie actively antagonizes him, aware that his message of "love versus fear" is self-serving and shallow. Maybe Donnie doesn't do this all consciously, but he does rebel against the very system which is suffocating him and those like him, one of the pills to keep you quiet, creature comforts to keep you insulated, free from pain and fear, free from any real feeling. He sees the effects on the world around him, even if it is understated and repressed. His mother (Mary McDonnell) is rarely seen without a glass of wine or cigarette in her hand--her self-prescribed means to repress her pain and fear as a parent challenged with a son who seems like he has a few screws loose. Even his science professor, Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff (Noah Wyle)--who aids Donnie in his quest for knowledge about "wormholes" and time travel--keeps a professional distance in his philosophizing about metaphysics, pointing out the gulf society has thrown up to "protect us" from crossing God with science and school. As Donnie talks about wormholes, he drapes a Slinky around his neck, a metaphoric representation of a wormhole. Just as Donnie is in a transition of space and time, he is also straddling that line in his life, his age, his feelings--he is in-between everything. Donnie's problems are personal ones, not the same as the first-world problems revolving around his affluent community of Middlesex, Virginia. He's not concerned with who wins the presidency in 1988...he's been told the world will end at the end of the month by a giant rabbit. Donnie's scared with good reason, because he doesn't know how it will end. A good deal of Donnie Darko is reminiscent of another film about adolescent transition: The Graduate; his shrink is even played by Katharine Ross, although Donnie's romantic interest (Gretchen Ross--similar name), is played by Jena Malone. But where Ben Braddock made his actions to win Elaine Robinson out of a fear that he was not in control of his own life, Donnie makes his climactic decision out of love for the girl he has already won, an act which is one of recreation, but necessitates destruction. Donnie's great revelation about time travel is a fantasy for anyone who has ever known regret. We all look back on our lives at what could have been, what we wish we did differently, and dream how nice it would be if we could only have the chance to go back to do it again, do it better. But those errors are the learning experiences we all make as we become adults; they are as deeply tied to our identity as anything we have done, perhaps more so, because we understand, and that is a lesson where experience is often the best teacher.
Recommended for: Fans of a fantastic story which defies strict classification as science fiction, but deals readily in both "science" and "fiction". It is for those who ever felt disenfranchised with being told what to do and feel, and knowing that sometimes you have to set a couple of fires to make the world a better place, and you don't have to be afraid of your mistakes, but you do have to learn from them.
Amid the story of time travel, psychosis, puberty, et al, there are a few moments devoted to Donnie's time in his English literature class, taught by Karen Pomeroy (Drew Barrymore). One of the key stories they discuss in class is "The Destructors" by Graham Greene, and the content of the story partially parallels that of Donnie Darko. Even for those who never read the story--like Donnie's classmate--Ms. Pomeroy recaps the content for us, along with Donnie's response to her request for a thematic synopsis, enough that we can see the reflection. Just as the story is "an act of destruction as creation", so, too, are Donnie's efforts in the wake of his brush with death at the onset of his story. Donnie's acts of violence mirror those in the story--a point used against his English teacher at a PTA meeting by another teacher, Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant), whose obsession with a new wave guidance program foisted on the school by self-help drone, Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze) ends up embodying a far worse crisis than thought-provoking fiction. When Cunningham delivers a trite and hollow presentation to the school assembly, Donnie actively antagonizes him, aware that his message of "love versus fear" is self-serving and shallow. Maybe Donnie doesn't do this all consciously, but he does rebel against the very system which is suffocating him and those like him, one of the pills to keep you quiet, creature comforts to keep you insulated, free from pain and fear, free from any real feeling. He sees the effects on the world around him, even if it is understated and repressed. His mother (Mary McDonnell) is rarely seen without a glass of wine or cigarette in her hand--her self-prescribed means to repress her pain and fear as a parent challenged with a son who seems like he has a few screws loose. Even his science professor, Dr. Kenneth Monnitoff (Noah Wyle)--who aids Donnie in his quest for knowledge about "wormholes" and time travel--keeps a professional distance in his philosophizing about metaphysics, pointing out the gulf society has thrown up to "protect us" from crossing God with science and school. As Donnie talks about wormholes, he drapes a Slinky around his neck, a metaphoric representation of a wormhole. Just as Donnie is in a transition of space and time, he is also straddling that line in his life, his age, his feelings--he is in-between everything. Donnie's problems are personal ones, not the same as the first-world problems revolving around his affluent community of Middlesex, Virginia. He's not concerned with who wins the presidency in 1988...he's been told the world will end at the end of the month by a giant rabbit. Donnie's scared with good reason, because he doesn't know how it will end. A good deal of Donnie Darko is reminiscent of another film about adolescent transition: The Graduate; his shrink is even played by Katharine Ross, although Donnie's romantic interest (Gretchen Ross--similar name), is played by Jena Malone. But where Ben Braddock made his actions to win Elaine Robinson out of a fear that he was not in control of his own life, Donnie makes his climactic decision out of love for the girl he has already won, an act which is one of recreation, but necessitates destruction. Donnie's great revelation about time travel is a fantasy for anyone who has ever known regret. We all look back on our lives at what could have been, what we wish we did differently, and dream how nice it would be if we could only have the chance to go back to do it again, do it better. But those errors are the learning experiences we all make as we become adults; they are as deeply tied to our identity as anything we have done, perhaps more so, because we understand, and that is a lesson where experience is often the best teacher.
Recommended for: Fans of a fantastic story which defies strict classification as science fiction, but deals readily in both "science" and "fiction". It is for those who ever felt disenfranchised with being told what to do and feel, and knowing that sometimes you have to set a couple of fires to make the world a better place, and you don't have to be afraid of your mistakes, but you do have to learn from them.