Donnie Darko

What many consider to be an underrated classic, Cult classic and one of the greatest Indie films of all time, I would tend to agree. This film is a perfect film hardly anything is wrong, the characters are multi-dimensional, the plot thought provoking and the logic reasonably realistic. Starring now even more popular Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Holmes Osborn and Jenna Malone. The film also features Seth Rogen in his first feature film, so something for fans of Seth, but we will get to him later.

The film revolves around the life of a brilliant, yet psychologically disturbed young man named Donnie and his interactions with the people of his town. Oddly enough I can relate to this character, not the psychosis, but the fact that none understand him or how he works. He has quite an impressive understanding of philosophy, time/space and parallel dimensions and can have deep talks about society and emotions. He starts seeing a being dressed as a rabbit known only as Frank, who tells him that the world will end in, and I quote, "twenty eight days, six hours, forty-two minutes and twelve seconds  ". The film delves into the science and philosophy of why this might be happening as Donnie begins to develop a rather nihilistic attitude and becomes slightly more pessimistic, much to his family and friends discomfort.

This film astounds me for its impressive story telling, in that most films will just focus mainly on the protagonist and/or antagonist, but this film develops the main, the villain, the secondary characters, the secondary villains and progress with teachings on high school life and as science-fiction. It is actually a high school drama with a bit of sci-fi thrown into the mixture. this would be my favorite tv show, sci-fi, psychology, philosophy as well as be something relatable through the medium of high school(I won't lie, season 1 of Glee, I actually liked it, because it was something new with singing and characters, but that wore off quickly.).

The characters are hilarious and interesting. Donnie's father is the coolest dad ever, understanding he needs someone to talk too and he usually finds humor in every scene(His reaction to why Donnie got in trouble is hands down the funniest moment in this film). His girlfriend, Gretchen as she is known, is supportive, kind, but has her limits and is trusting of Donnie enough to come to him about her missing mom. The teachers are awesome, someone must have had someone like Karen Pomeroy, she is a sassy, no-nonsense, revolutionary. Her methods are different to say the least, but that cannot be said for Kitty Farmer, I realize know that name suits the likes of conservative christian idealist versus Karen Pomeroy, a Bourgeoisie. Kitty is the pain in the ass religious eccentric who pushes for purity when the man she looks up to is absolutely not what she thinks he is. These Idealists are a pain in my ass, I see them in Easy A and they believe anyone opposed to them should be shunned. The only problems I really have is the screen time of other characters like Maggie or Seth. They receive hardly anywhere near as much screen time as everyone else, Seth I understand as he is new to the scene. Maggie on the other hand is a very important character. Through her Donnie secrets are revealed to his parents, she has a most peculiar Boyfriend and mainly she is his sister, dissapears for most of the film and doesn't show up till the end. This is my only real problem with the film.

So, overall this is one of my favorite Indie movies and I can see where the Cult may have come from.The film bombed at the box-office, but critics praised it for what it was and I am glad it has received a larger fan base, but I still consider it underrated as not many know about it. It's a thought provoking, intelligent and sometimes moving SciFi/Drama. The characters are well thought out and developed, Donnie is a relatable, enigmatic hero of every day life.

So, here I shall reveal my new scoring system(what! every critic has one!). It is scored on Five Aspects:

Premise(is the premise even good enough for a script fix)

Actors(Are the actors even interested in the film they are in)

Behind the scenes(Effects, lighting, music,etc.)

Script(Does it say what it needs to say in the time given)

Director/direction(can our interests be maintained throughout in such an artistic way), they don't fall into this specific order.

So far the premise is good *

The actors give a damn *

The Effects are only okay, 1/2

The script is intelligent and interesting *

The director has good vision *

Four and a half stars, Verdict: Worth seeing a second time......and another time after that.