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Donnie DarkoWho is Donnie Darko? Well, he's the troubled hero of Richard Kelly's remarkable debut feature, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Not only is Donnie ("Donnie Darko? What the hell kinda name is that?") a complex character - he's a high IQ high-school student, troubled by mental instability, who is both frank and perspicacious - but the film itself defies genre definition. It's a drama about teen love. It's philosophical sci-fi. It's a satire of 80s America. And more.
It's 1988. Donnie wakes up on a mountain road. It looks like Provence, but Donnie soon descends into manicured all-American suburbia. The film was shot in LA but the fictional setting of Middlesex, Virginia, is reminiscent of Blue Velvet or even E.T. (further evoked by the presence of Barrymore, who executive produced and co-stars as a teacher). These connections - and explicit references within the film to Back To The Future, The Evil Dead and The Last Temptation Of Christ - are all part of Kelly's dense weave, contributing to the film's themes of 80s culture, time travel, the supernatural (Donnie is visited repeatedly by a eerie, man-sized 'rabbit' called Frank - a nod to Harvey) and faith.
Questions of faith are played out not only through the fundamentalist undercurrents in Donnie's community (a repressed teacher insists on banning Graham Greene's 'The Destructors' on the grounds that it encourages youth violence), but also in the form of a self-help guru, Jim Cunningham (Swayze). Donnie's frustration pours out when he's confronted by this man, who simplistically reduces emotion to a struggle between fear and love. It's a potent stand-off, between reductive quasi-philosophy from Cunningham (the product of a cynical, quick-fix commercial culture) and straightforward wisdom from the "troubled and confused" Donnie.
As with Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia, another product of a young auteur, Donnie Darko is brimfull of ideas. However, Kelly's film focuses on one character, has a sci-fi dimension and an 80s milieu - which is thankfully created with sensitivity (no naff wardrobe, plenty of decent period music) and satirical humour (Dukakis versus Bush Sr forms a backdrop).
Donnie Darko is a well-made film, without tangible low-budget problems (it cost $4.5 million). It's shot with grace and atmosphere, directed with assurance and expertly played. Alongside star Gyllenhaal, his sister Maggie plays his screen sister; expressive character actor Holmes Osborne plays his bewildered dad; Oscar-nominated Mary McDonnell plays his mum ("How does it feel to have a wacko for a son?" Donnie asks her, "It feels wonderful" she says with despairingly cheerful love). The cast is further bulked out by 'ER' regular Noah Wyle as Donnie's physics teacher; upcoming actress Jena Malone as Donnie's girlfriend; and Katherine Ross as Donnie's therapist. Ross's presence makes for another evocative connection, to that earlier coming-of-age tale, The Graduate (in which she played Mrs Robinson's daughter).
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