Walter’s Review Blog

Kino Cinema Cork, Sunday January 5th 2003

Dir. Richard Kelly, USA 2002

I don’t see so many movies these days and of those I see; few are worth writing about.However, it’s a new year and I’ve just seen a movie worth championing (Donnie Darko)...

Imagine what ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ would have been like if it was directed by Hal Hartley and you’re some way to understanding the claustrophobic atmosphere that pervades Donnie Darko. It’s a movie about alienation, madness, teenage angst and time travel. For anyone who has forgotten how fucked up it is to be 17 years old, this movie is a timely reminder. The movie takes place over the month of October 1988, and does a pretty good job of recreating the time through it’s soundtrack - a canny selection of 80′s powerpop (Tears for Fears feature heavily as do Killing Joke, Joy Division and Duran Duran). Donnie is a troubled teenager, he narrowly avoids death when a jumbo jet engine falls out of the sky. On the same night, a giant rabbit appears to him and warns him of the end of the world. Much of the movie is shot in daylight around an anonymous american suburb - a stark contrast to the dark visions that haunt Donnie. The movie isn’t all doom and gloom, in fairness to the director, the protagonist’s teenage angst is treated with a fair dash of tongue-in-cheek humour. Richard Kelly seems to be saying “so you think being 17 was great ? - think again”.

Kelly throws a few punches at censorship too although at times it’s hard to see which side he’s on, I think the ambiguity is deliberate. In one scene a PTA meeting descends into a debate on Graham Greene’s ‘The Destructors’, in another the protagonist slips out of a movie theatre showing “The Evil Dead” to burn down a house. It’s quite possible that I’ve missed something here (I never saw the Senator Palpatine/Emperor thing in Star Wars EP1) but nevertheless, Donnie Darko is an enjoyable if somewhat claustrophobic movie. Credit must go to Drew Barrymore for producing this film, Barrymore has been a champion of independant movies since 1992′s GunCrazy with James LeGros. Noah Wylie and Patrick Swayze also put in good performances.