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Some movies are meant to be hermetic and unearth, seemingly far from our understanding. Or is it just our mind which tricks us into finding a meaning in everything, to torture us in our sleep with complex ideas, to push our brain to the limit. Sometimes the message is simple but we have to overthink it, to convince ourselves that we're not dumb. This is paradoxical because we don't like convoluted plots, we prefer something more streamlined and outright. This movie is part of the category I've explained here. Don't get lost in its meanders.
PLOT
"After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes" or "Being a Teenager in a troubled society is hard".
SCRIPT
The movie's script is particurarly sharp because it's able to represent different ideas which intertwine to form an interesting story. The prominent concept, the one which helped becoming this movie a cult, is about time travel. It's not about going back and forth in time bu it concerns the idea of parallel universes. The movie explain it thorugh a bit of exposition done through a professor and a book. It's simplier than it looks, you just have to amp up your attention during the climax and you'll be able to understand it. My opinion is that it's more about The Mandela Effect rather than parallel universes. Anyway the time travel trope is just a plot device to grant a conflict to the main character, Donnie Darko. In fact the story turns around his teens life and his relationship with his town's people. He's an angry and cunning teenager who is a bit nihilistic. A strong and direct social commentary is done through him who serves as the audience's proxy. The social problem pointed out by the movie are more relevant now than in the 2000's: the anti-meritocratic school system which is against free speech, free thinking and new teaching's ways; the moral ambiguity of the people which exceeds in the politically correct and its deep flaws; the idol's untouchability and theirs vices behind the curtains; the apathy of our civilization; the marriage's feebleness; the excessive adoration of sport's players; the utter violence of this world. One could say that no one has an arch but that's the point. In our society is hard to change, its hard to be themselves, because it doesn't want to evolve. We're waiting for a crisis to really change ourselves. This is what's happening right now, thanks to the Covid-19 crisis. And here's the joke. Like every person in the movie, we'll think that what we've experienced is just an afterthought and we'll do the same error, again and again, waiting for someone else to change our perspective.
Script: 8/10
ACTING
Jake Gyllenhall has created an icon. He's exceptional at convey the different traits of Donnie's personality. He's able to be disquieting yet charming, quick witted yet arrogant, sweet and shy yet confident and unkind. This movie, I think, is the reason he was chosen to play a more disturbing character in Nightcrawler, which shoots him to stardom. The other actors are fine. I think that you'll hate to the bone the actress who portrays Beth Grant after this movie because he has done an exceptional job at portraying a dull minded woman with a hero complex. There're also a lot of actors in smaller roles who are relevant today like Seth Rogen, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Drew Barrymore.
Acting: 8/10
PHOTOGRAPHY
It's simple and scholastic at first but it becomes more inventive on the way. There's a sequence which is beatifully shot and it seems a paint, another frame where different images follow each other and overlap creating a discomforting sensation...it bemuses you. The light is different when the weird bunny is there, creating a strong sense of uneasiness and mistery. The colours are not used as symbols but it doesn't affect the movie because it prefers to be a shocking work rather than a work of art.
Photography: 7/1
EDITING
Here we have a careful use of slow motion, which is employed to have a better understanding of the people and situations and their mood and goals, almost as glamourising them in their simpleness. The first shot, which is useful to introduce into the story's set, moves following the music's pace. There're some sudden cuts but they're intentional, to make you feel unease. Some fading is employed during the book's exposition scene but i think it's well fit because it add weights to what's on the screen. We could say that time is strongly linked to the movie's editing. There's only one scene where's used a shaky cam and it's correctly used to generate dizziness and to show the protagonist's point of view.
Editing: 8/10
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Considering the movie budget, the relevance for the plot and the period's technology we can nearly forgive the producers. They works because they're not the point and they're not front and center. There're just two special effects in fact and they're harmless after all. It's a semi-grounded movie so you could expect that. Nonetheless they're appreciable in their simpleness.
Special Effects: 5/10
SOUNDTRACK
It's unnerving and unsettling when it's just instrumental, because it's characterized by whirring sounds and low timbre notes. The movie hosts also some pop music like "The Killing Moon" by Echo & the Bunnymen, "Mad World" by Tears for Fears singed by Gary Jules and other tracks. These songs are not used just to give the movie a tune to get along but they're interwoven with the narration because the lyrics match the scene's theme. The composer doesn't limit himself at just playing them but sometimes warps and distort them. This is pretty ingenious because it creates quandary thorugh a mix of uplifted tones and tense ones. Without the soundtrack would've been strongly different.
Soundtrack: 8/10
COSTUMES
Simply put, it's all about that chilling Bunnyman costume and the mask. There's nothing else because the characters wear ordinary clothes. Without that costume the movie we would be talking about another movie. It's as iconic as Guy Fawkes's V for Vendetta, Darth Vader's Star Wars hood and Batman's cowl. You'll remember it in your dreams.
Costumes: 7/10
CONCLUSION
Script: 8/10
Acting: 8/10
Photography: 7/10
Editing: 8/10
Special Effects: 8/10
Soundtrack: 8/10
Costumes: 7/10
AVERAGE: 7,71
It's an intriguing movie which raises interesting questions about our society and the time's meaning. Jake Gyllenhall carries it on his shoulder with a chilling performance and a wide range of emotions. Music, editing and photography are used to give an original and distincitive tone which culminates in its mascot, the Bunnyman. It's a rewatchable cult which address issues which are still relevant today and it gets even better after the first watch. Why are you wearing that stupid man-suit?
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Director: Richard Kelly
Screenplay: Richard Kelly
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Duval, Drew Barrymore, Mary McDonnell, Katharine Ross, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle
Soundtrack: Michael Andrews
Cinematography: Steven Poster
Running Time: 113 minutes
Budget: $4,5 million
