Movie Review of Donnie Darko :: Film Cinema Movies

Donnie Darko A ReviewWhat comes to mind when you think of a modern adolescent coming of age impression? Is it alienation, rebellion, probably commencement exercise love? In Donnie Darko (2001), writer/director Richard Kelly employs all of these familiar themes past he adds humor, witty satire, time travel, apocalyptic prophecy, and a bi-pedal, six derriere tall nightmare of a rabbit, who instructs the young and confused Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) through haunt visions and an eerie vowelise that runs through Donnies head. Ok, so maybe this sounds analogous a plotline lifted straight from the WBs primetime lineup (minus the wit), but Kelly uses these seemingly absurd, orthogonal elements to create an amazingly complex and clever story that Buffy could unaccompanied day-dream of.Donnie Darko begins with a panoramic, morning shot of a mountain range, setting the coif for a film as wide open as the landscape. The tv camera pans around, focusing slowly on a distant figure, manufacture unconscious(p) in the middle of a mountain road. The silence is broken only by soft, sporadic blue notes, echoing from a piano. As the camera draws closer, the figure rises, giving the audience their first glimpse of Donnie Darko. With a chuckling smirk, he picks up his bicycle and heads back home. Immediately, Kelly forces the question, Why the hell is this kid lying in the middle of road? This is the first question that the viewer is forced to ponder and it is definitely not the last.Kelly wastes no time establishing the films dark tone. Not even five minutes into the movie, an eerie voice instructs Donnie to Wake up. In a trance, he rises from bed and follows the voice taboo of his house and to a golf course. He finds the above mentioned rabbit, Frank, who slowly says, cardinal days, six hours, forty-two minutes, twelve seconds. That is when the world will end. Donnies only chemical reaction is, Why? He and the audience will spend the rest of the movie trying to find the answer. And, to make things more complicated, a jet locomotive engine (which masst be accounted for) crashes through Donnies board while he is asleep on the golf course. When he arrives home, he is faced with still another question why did Frank lead him out of his room and save his life?The question you are asking now is, How can you possibly call this a coming of age story. The answer is hardly what makes the film great.