A brilliant story about a troubled teen who hallucinates and sees a giant rabbit that tells him to perform a series of strange and dangerous tasks. Don't expect an entirely relaxing, enjoyable experience, Donnie Darko is surreal and strange throughout. A seemingly normal story of a boy making his way through school, meeting a girl, hanging with his friends and sub plots concerning parents and school teachers is present but is cleverly juxtaposed with almost alternate reality, dream-like sequences concerning our main character, who frequently visits a psychiatrist and is finding hidden meanings and connections in his life.
It's perfectly well done and the story is written in such a way that it is satisfying and enjoyable even though you're not quite sure what's going on half the time. It then ends in a way that is both confusing and explanatory for the strange happenings that happen previously.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays the title character of the 18 year old going on 25. Seriously, he looks a little old for his role. Either way his performance is brilliant, he switches scene by scene from a fairly normal if troubled teenager to a deranged, disturbed one with a real freaky manic smile. Other notable performances include one of Donnie's school teachers played by Drew Barrymore, or as my mother put it, the little girl from ET. The rest of the cast are brilliant and do their part in creating believable characters in this surreal and seemingly unbelievable world.
My only main criticism is the use of Mad World by Gary Jules as the closing track. Of course this film relaunched the song back in 2001 but now... Well, that song is just annoying.
Overall
An enjoyable and, not necessarily thought provoking, but thought warping and disturbing, film. If your looking for a teen/horror/thriller with an edge this is for you.
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