Director's Cut

As both consumers and people in general we’re very picky. We’re also very prone to stereotypes and to making neat little boxes in which to place our ideas and ideologies. This outlook impacts our attitudes towards everything, from the way we entertain ourselves to the way we interact with politics to the way we worship God and relate to our spiritual communities. 

There are TV shows to avoid, bands to heap scorn upon and offending businesses to boycott. This attitude finds its way into our multiplexes as well. We like our movies to be packaged in neat, 90-minute boxes wrapped with colorful, paint-by-numbers plot ribbons. We like our stories perfectly resolved, our heroes and villains clearly defined, our tone happy, our genres segregated and we’d prefer it if we didn’t have to think too much. Writer/director Richard Kelly’s film Donnie Darko was, and is, none of these things. That’s probably one of the reasons the film tanked at the box office when originally released. It also didn’t help that this clever genre-hybrid of a film was released in a post-Sept. 11 climate that A) was much more interested in what was happening on CNN than at a movie theater and B) didn’t care too much for jets crashing into buildings. Understandable

Well, like Eminem’s alter ego Slim Shady, Darko’s back again. And hopefully this time it will get a fair shake.

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as Donnie Darko—a troubled teenager who sees hallucinations of a six-foot tall demonic rabbit named Frank—this film has more meat to it than a porterhouse. After a jet engine mysteriously lands in the family living room in the middle of the night, Frank shows Donnie a series of visions leading him to believe the world will end in 28 days. It’s Donnie’s job to save the world. To say much more would be cheating the story, but the result is a beautifully muddled mess combining elements of comedy, mystery, science fiction, horror, social satire, romance and ’80s feel. 

At times Darko is a head-trip, as you try to wrap your brain around time travel and alternate realities. It’s also true that the new footage doesn’t add a whole lot to the film (most of it was included as deleted scenes on the DVD release). But with an all-star cast including Jena Malone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, ER’s Noah Wyle, and Patrick Swayze, this is one of the best, most meaningful films you’ve never seen. Period.