2001, twenty years ago, a young actor appeared in his seventh film, a movie that got him noticed and led to bigger and better things. That actor was Jake Gyllenhaal and the movie was DONNIE DARKO. As the led in the film, the first feature by director Richard Kelly, Gyllenhaal displayed his acting abilities and helped make the film the cult classic that it has become. Quirky, strange and downright confusing at time the movie has been talked about for years since its release. Now it’s arriving on 4K from Arrow Video.
If you’re unfamiliar with the film it takes place in 1988 in the small town of Middlesex, VA. Young Donnie Darko (Gyllenhaal) is a troubled teen prone to sleepwalking and waking in the middle of the road away from his home. During these dream time walks he encounters a strange looking creature in a rabbit costume named Frank with a message for him: the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes and 12 seconds.
Donnie continues to have visions of Frank with bits and pieces being given to him about what is coming. His parents (Mary McDonnell and Holmes Osborne) are concerned that these daylight hallucinations mean something terrible, that Donnie is losing his mind. The consult with psychiatrist Dr. Thurman (Katherine Ross) who begins seeing Donnie. The things Frank tells Donnie lead him down a destructive path including flooding his high school by breaking a water main with an axe.
As if this wasn’t enough to keep the story moving forward more characters are inserted into Donnie’s tale. New girl in town Gretchen Ross (Jena Malone) catches Donnie’s eye. Gretchen has problems of her own. She and her mother moved here to escape an abusive husband/father. This isn’t enough to keep Donnie away though and they become fast friends.
There is also gym teacher Kitty Farmer (Beth Grant) who follows the teachings of motivational speaker Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze). Using the teachings of this self-help guru she attempts to help Donnie as well. All it does is lead to a situation between her and Donnie’s mother.
Frank begins discussing time travel with Donnie and has him discuss the topic with his science teacher, Dr. Monnitoff (Noah Wyllie). They begin discussing the topic until Monnitoff thinks he shouldn’t go any further. Instead he gives Donnie a copy of the book The Philosophy of Time Travel written by an ex-nun named Roberta Sparrow.
By now there is little doubt you’re thinking to yourself what kind of weird movie is this? That’s the point. The movie is an incredibly strange film. Perhaps one of the oddest movies ever made. And yet at the same time it is completely watchable. The story is like an onion with the layers peeled back to get to the inside that is the end of the film. Each character helps to move the story to its conclusion and what an ending it is.
There isn’t a bad performance in the mix here. Included in the cast are Daveigh Chase and Maggie Gyllenhaal (Jake’s real life sister) as his sisters, Seth Rogan and Drew Barrymore. Even in smaller roles they shine. But it is Gyllenhaal who brings the film to life as the troubled teen with the giant rabbit named Frank that holds everything together.
This is not the type of movie to pop in and then bounce around the house, doing laundry, making dinner or other things. It requires you to sit there and watch it. In doing so you’re more apt to follow what’s going on even as strange as it may be. For myself I was able to keep up but even then kept trying to put the puzzle pieces together. Before the credits role they all formulate to make one amazing picture.
Now let’s talk about Arrow Video. They have done an amazing job with this release beginning with a New 4K restorations of both the Theatrical Cut and the Director’s Cut from the original camera negatives by Arrow Films, supervised and approved by director Richard Kelly and cinematographer Steven Poster. he amount of extras included in this film are overwhelming and far too many to include here but will be available to read in the online version of this review. Arrow is by far one of the best companies there is out there offering movies like this as they were meant to be seen. If you’ve never seen it seek it out. And if you own and love the film upgrade to this version. It’s worth it.
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