Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Patrick Swayze, Mary McDonnell, Katharine Ross, Noah Wylie, Drew Barrymore Director: Richard Kelly II Rated: R Score: 8/10
Taking Place in the 80's, this ambitious story begins with an unusual set of circumstances. Donnie is a young high school kid living in suburbia who doesn't fit in. He's very bright, and very cynical of the world he lives in. The 80's were a decade of decadence, where everyone was trying to become a better person physically, mentally and financially but it was almost self destructive. And those young kids like Donnie who didn't fit the mold were often given psychiatric medications to "Conform", without knowing the consequences of the drug's side effects. Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.
One night an airplane engine falls out of the sky and into Donnies bedroom. Nobody knows where it came from, and Donnie was lucky not to be in there. He had been avoiding his medication, until that night, maybe it would make him better. But he winds up sleepwalking outside, talking to a demonic looking rabbit called Frank, who told him a secret.
The world was going to end in 28 days.
Donnie's psychiatrist diagnosed him as a schitzophrenic, yet who knows. Something must be wrong with him but he can see so much more that is wrong with others. But is that a bad thing? The town is absorbedwith this creepy motivational guru who believes everyone's problems derive from fear. And fear is the enemy.
Donnie: "Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit?" Frank: "Why are you wearing that stupid man suit? Take it off."
However you would be mistaken in assuming this movie is about a troubled teen. It can also be seen as an example of the hypocricy and lies we are fed when we look to others for help, and how easily we accept them under the illusion it's going to make us feel better, make our lives better. Without realizing each person can do anything, and that is enough power to change our own lives. It was the Reagan era when everybody was about serving themself, and often how scary it was to find out the truth about those who lived the lie of a perfect life.
IT could also be about the theories of time and time travel. Donnie has been given a message from the future. He's also been seeing things, these liquid looking worms that come out of people's chests as if they are some kind of cosmic pull in deciding the fate of each individual as they follow it. Are we helpless in our own destiny or can we go against the pull and choose our own course? There is a pull of his own to which he is following without the realization that he can stop it. But should he? What are the consequences? The world is coming to an end in 28 days. And the film takes a more disturbing turn upon the revelation about Frank.
Yes it's a very dark and weird picture with an atmospheric score and 80's music. You'll notice each time Donnie see's Frank, he has taken his medication. Donnie also has a new girlfriend, she seems like everyone else but her life by no means is perfect. She calls Donnie "Weird", but as a compliment. He's very outspoken, and intelligent. It seems everyone is living behind a wall, afraid to go against the mainstream. It was definately a time when being different was "bad", and people can't have problems. They must be fixed. They must be like us. Or at least how we want them to think we are.
The last part of the film is very intriguing, it has you thinking about the entire film from a different perspective. There are a few ways to interpret the meaning of the final climactic ending, but that is the genius of it. It could be about time travel, about self indulgence and destructiveness. The increase in materialism in the 80's. Maybe the consequences of psychotropic drugs, and schitzophrenia. Or perhaps Donnie was so intimidatingly bright and perceptive because he had died, and his spirit was on a sort of dreamwalk. Are greater cosmic forces at play in our lives? It can be overwhelming for some when a movie is over and they aren't sure what it meant. But what a great thing, because it's left to us to decide.
