Donnie Darko

The experience begins...

In an industry increasingly obsessed with style over substance, it’s rare to find a movie that hasn’t been tampered with in some form or other by a chain of command that takes a great deal of power away from the filmmaker and puts it squarely in the hands of the studio, the market and the big-name stars that eat up a good percentage of the budget. First-time directors still turn up on the big screen, of course, but increasingly they’re drawn from the advertising and music video fields, the studio knowing full well that they can count on kinetic visuals while easily exercising tight control over the filmmaking process. The result, needless to say, is usually bland at best and completely incoherent at worst (Tomb Raider, anyone?) But then there’s that rare breakthrough from a new writer-director who’s carried his idea through from page to screen without so much as a phone call from anyone with pretensions to power. Darren Aronofsky did exactly that with his debut feature Pi, coming up with a stunningly innovative work for a mere 60,000 self-raised dollars, then went on to show it wasn’t a fluke by getting Requiem for a Dream made for $4.5 million, a sum which wouldn’t even cover the cost of film stock on a mega-budget Hollywood production. Maybe this kind of success encouraged a small group of independent production companies - including Drew Barrymore’s Flower Films - to bet their $4.5 million on Richard Kelly, a 25 year-old film school graduate with only a couple of highly praised short films to his credit up to that point. And what a gamble it turned out to be; Kelly’s debut feature, Donnie Darko, is loaded with originality, cleverness and filmmaking nous, a brazen reminder to the world that creative minds are often best left to their own devices.

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is an intelligent high school student in the late 1980s who, like many his age, is battling through the mire of adolescence. But Donnie is also trying to cope with mental problems that have seen him put on medication. Problem is, the drugs don’t work - or at least, they don’t seem to. Certainly the regular visions Donnie is having of a giant, guttural-voiced rabbit who speaks of the impending end of the world aren’t an encouraging sign of mental health. But there’s an upside to this; lured out of his family’s house late one night by the rabbit, Donnie is safely out of harm’s way when a plane’s jet engine inexplicably drops from the sky onto his bedroom. Maybe the rabbit knows something the rest of the world doesn’t - or maybe it’s all in Donnie’s imagination. Either way, Donnie figures he has no choice but to obey the rabbit that saved his life - no matter what the consequences.

Donnie at the world's most depressing bus stop.

This immensely inventive, obtuse and often very funny slice of surreal fiction is that rarest of things in modern cinema - a one-of-a-kind experience that refuses to give the audience all of the answers, but rather encourages free interpretation on a grand scale. That’s going to bother some people; if you like your movies to be neat, self-contained little stories with straightforward “closure� by the time the end credits roll, you’re going to be thrown out by Donnie Darko. Kelly guides his characters to an unexpected final scenario, an ending that provokes more questions than it answers - and indeed, it’s debatable whether even the filmmaker himself knows all the answers to the puzzle he conjures. But that’s part of the point; some may walk away from this movie with the very definition of a “huh?� expression on their faces, while others will figure out an explanation that works for them and leave it at that. But Donnie Darko doesn’t go away that easily; this is a film that sticks in the mind long after you’ve seen it, and while there’s even more to be gained from a second, third and fourth viewing, don’t expect any kind of sudden revelation.

"I can see Mt Doom from here..."

Stylistically the film is arresting from start to finish. Working in a visual style that recalls David Lynch’s best work and with the kind of keen observation of human foibles that made Alan Ball’s American Beauty and Six Feet Under so mesmerising, Kelly makes the minutiae of his characters’ lives the primary focus, never once resorting to cliché or predictability. The teensy budget never once impacts on the quality of what ends up on screen; a challenging sequence like the jet engine impact is handled with skill and economy, and shows just how much can be done using filmmaking skill rather than resorting to special effects. When computer effects are employed, it’s to further the story - and it must be said, by the way, that the effects work is astonishingly good given the resources available. The cast is uniformly terrific, too (and features a few unexpected faces, including Noah “Dr Carter� Wyle, Katharine “Mrs Robinson� Ross and Patrick Swayze).

It may at times seem almost wilfully obscure, but Donnie Darko is a must-see for everyone who craves something new and exciting to break their diet of mundane bog-standard cinema. Richard Kelly is remarkable new talent whose future work will be fascinating to witness; as a debut feature, Donnie Darko is going to be a hard act for him to follow.

The grass may be green, but the mood is dark...

The US DVD of Donnie Darko was heavily criticised for its apparently soft image, but this region 4 edition fares considerably better. The 16:9 enhanced transfer faithfully reproduces the 2.35:1 scope image (and this is important - Kelly and cinematographer Steven Poster makes extensive use of the wide frame), with sharpness never a problem throughout. Colours are perhaps a bit more muted than many are used to, and overall the transfer’s a little darker than usual as well (perhaps in order to tame what might otherwise have been less-than-solid blacks in some scenes), but this only serves to enhance the mood of the film, which relies heavily on absence of light in key sequences; shadow detail is excellent. The film source is clean enough, with only a few nicks and scratches popping up from time to time to annoy pedantic reviewers. Overall, it’s not the best transfer we’ve seen by any means, but it serves the film well.

Video compression is well handled - the film’s been transferred to DVD at a very high bitrate - and there’s nothing to complain about on the disc authoring side of things at all save for the layer change, which is more clunky than it should be, placed as it is in a decidedly non-layer-change-friendly part of the film.

Drew Barrymore as teacher Karen Pomeroy.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 theatrical sound mix is faithfully reproduced on this disc, and while the film’s essentially dialogue-focussed, Kelly makes full use of the surround sound stage to enhance elements of the story; for example, the rabbit’s voice appears eerily out of the surrounds, giving the audience the distinct feeling of what it must be like to be inside Donnie’s head…! The jet engine’s impact on the house provides the biggest aural fireworks of the show, packing a sonic wallop that will quite likely scare the living crap out of everyone who’s got a sound system capable enough. Dialogue is clear and precise, and the various 80s songs as well as the music score come across well. Anyone familiar with the songs on offer here, by the way, will know instantly that this soundtrack has been pitch-corrected (something easily demonstrated by flicking between the film soundtrack and one of the commentaries while a song is playing). There are no audible problems introduced by the pitch correction, proving to somewhat larger studios that the process can indeed be done without screwing up the sound quality.

A Dolby Surround 2.0 track is also on offer for those who need it, though the Dolby Surround flag has not been set on the audio stream.

Donnie walks out of the strangest double bill in town.

A terrific bunch of extras is provided here, an absolute smorgasbord of information for fans of the film. They’re all accessed from fully animated menus with audio, and though the transitions between menus quickly get a little frustrating (“one time only� transitions would have been preferable) they’re very nicely done. The disc is encoded with DVD Text and a jacket picture for DVD players that support such niceties.

Audio Commentaries: Not one, but two audio commentaries are provided to give fans of the film a chance not only to discover the intricacies of the production process, but also to gain some insight into the film’s characters and the story’s puzzles. The first features writer-director Kelly and lead actor Gyllenhaal, and provides a wealth of information about the film - it’s a great listen, and particularly interesting for those interested in the technicalities of filmmaking on a tight budget. The second commentary gathers the principal cast together with Kelly and the film’s producers. This one’s like being a fly on the wall at a cast and crew wrap party as they get together to watch their work, chat about it with each other and have more than a few laughs. It’s great fun, though trying to figure out who’s talking at any given point isn’t always easy, largely because the fairly sizeable group has been recorded in mono.

Deleted And Extended Scenes: There’s been no economising here, with a massive 20 outtakes from the film on offer, running to a total of over 31 minutes - each with optional commentary from Kelly. Visual quality is limited - the source appears to have been either raw computer editing output or a timecoded rough-cut videotape - but the value of having this material to look through is undeniable. There are a few very enlightening scenes to be found here.

Trailers: One theatrical trailer and five US television advertisements, all presented letterboxed at 2.35:1 (unusual for TV spots) and not 16:9 enhanced.

Mad World Music Video: A video clip for the cover version of Tears For Fears’ hit single Mad World, performed by Gary Jules (described by allmusic.com as “one of the most gifted songwriting talents to surface during the decade�). Directed by Kelly, it uses clips from the film extensively. We’re not especially fond of this as a cover version, but it can’t be denied that it works well in its place in the movie.

Website Gallery: Selected images from the movie’s official web site, most of them completely indecipherable on a television screen. We’d suggest you pop over to visit the web site online instead - a link’s over on the right of this page. And yes, the site’s as relentlessly inventive as the movie!

Soundtrack: Richard Kelly’s liner notes from the soundtrack CD, on three text pages.

Cast & Crew Information: Filmographies or biographies for all the key players; nicely comprehensive, a rarity these days.

Cunning Visions: A sub-section offering a few items that will make absolutely no sense to anyone who’s looking at these extras before watching the film (which you really shouldn’t be doing!) The main item here are the “infomercials� used in the film - complete with optional joke commentary by the infomercial’s “directors� (stick with it - there’s funny stuff here). There’s also a few still frames showing some out-there motivational slides and the covers of Patrick Swayze’s character’s books.

Art Gallery: A decently-sized collection of production stills and concept art for those who like such things.

The Philosophy Of Time Travel: Some pages from the book written by character Roberta Sparrow, which features in the movie’s plot. If you were expecting to be able to actually read these pages, though, you’re in for some disappointment - they’re illegible.

One of the most impressive directorial debuts in recent memory, Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko is a clever, insightful, ambitious and captivating left-of-centre story that rewards repeated viewings. Nicely presented on DVD with plentiful extras, it’s one of this year’s most essential discs.