Donnie Darko (2001)

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The Shining by way of the torturously adolescent parts of American Beauty sees Donnie (Jake Gyllenhaal) tormented by visions of an enormous rabbit who tells him to burn things. There are other strange events, too, notably a jet engine falling onto Donnie's house and his conclusion that it must have arrived there via time travel.

It's actually somewhat charming to see a teenage angst-fest based on apparent paranoid schizophrenia and not mere middle-class anomie. Teenage angst-fest it is, however, and never really tries to rise above it. It's like a diary -- a story buried in pomp and self-absorption.

As a film it does rather better; it's compelling and consistently engaging. Performances are good, though Donnie's cutesy-evil smirks grow increasingly tiresome, and Kitty (Beth Farmer) -- teacher and obnoxious conservative -- is overused, and through no fault of her own begins to grate.

It's one of those films that impresses on first viewing, but gets worse in hindsight. A second viewing did nothing to disabuse me of that notion.

- Sam - 2009-08-15 00:53:33