Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko D: Richard Kelly



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.

The Birds

The Birds D: Alfed Hitchcock



A classic Hitchcock suspense thriller. Although at points the stuffed birds did make me laugh I really enjoyed this film, and was happy that it lived up to my expectations of being a strange, tense experience right from the very start.
Despite the film starting slowly and seeming to go nowhere for the first 30 minutes it soon picked up pace and I found myself really on-edge waiting for the foreboding bird attacks. We follow of woman, Annie, on her journey up to Bodega Bay near San Francisco. After being attacked by a gul on her way across the town's lake herself and the locals becomes suspicious of the local bird population. What follows is a fun game of anticipation and excitement as we wait and wait and wait for the birds to begin their full on war with the human race...
The suspense is masterfully built with a mix of sometimes long shots, holding on something seemingly irrelevant, or quick cuts of birds whoosing through the air or of terrified faces. There is a distinct lack of music that really helps sell a desolate, unescapeablele locale and emphaises the terrifying (and electronically created by Bernard Hermann) sounds of the birds. Expect shocks,long, drawn out suspense scenes and character flailing around as birds peck them to death.
The Birds, I think, is nothing more or less than a film designed to scare, disturb and nerve it's audience. The characters are vivid, the reckless leading leading, sarcastic man, emotional mother and vulnerable sister. All very interesting, but what is great about the birds is the brilliant way in which Hitchcock builds tension and although it is undoubtedly present, we don't really see the birds attacking that much. We're just waiting. And making a film that's fun to watch were nothing much happens, but you'r waiting and waiting is hard to do. Of course, it Hitchcock can't do it no one can!

Overall
A suspense-filled enjoyable film with it's fair share or scary scenes, grusome deaths and narrow escapes. I only wish it ended better and then the huge ammount of suspense and tension built would have payed off in a better way. I wanted more bird attacks!


Spoiler Section
Why did they leave the school? Surely it would've been easier to stay inside and just not get chased and attacked by the crows. And why did Annie, flailing and screaming whilst being attacked by the birds in the attic, lean against the door she was trying to open. That was a bit stupid.
End Spoilers