My Favorite Films, Plague Edition (Volume 30): The Apocalypse
Donny Darko (2001)
Written and Directed by Richard Kelly
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal
Graffiti (2015)
Directed by Lluíz Quílez
Written and Directed by Richard Kelly
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal
Graffiti (2015)
Directed by Lluíz Quílez
Starring Oriol Pla
Donny Darko, a wildly innovative sci fi-teen-apocalypse film, had the bad luck in premiering a couple months after the September 11 2001 attack on the World Trade center. The film had the very unfortunate plot element of having an airplane engine drop into a suburban home as its key driver, and apparently that was just a bit close to home for the movie-going public. Plus, the film did not offer standard escapist fare that was to dominate Hollywood for the next year or so. It bombed at the box office, but has subsequently become a cult hit, with massive video sales in the following years, and websites devoted to explaining it. The film also pretty much launched Jake Gyllenhaal’s career.
The film is based on a (now) fairly familiar wormhole/time loop/alternate universe plot, well -trodden in the Star Trek series. Alternate timelines were also popular in other films of that era, with Memento (2000) exploring reverse amnesia and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) exploring memory erasure. This film explores this from a sci-fi perspective. At the beginning an airplane engine falls into the Darkos’ suburban home, but no plane ever crashes or is identified. This is the first sign of the alternate timeline that the film inhabits. It is clearly unstable, and filled with improbabilities which Donny must decipher while also dealing with his own mental illness. The film nicely clouds the border between delusions and alternate perceptions of reality, echoing some of Thomas Szasz’ skepticism about the reality of mental illness (The Myth of Mental Illness, 1961). Of course, this being science fiction, Donny is given unusual powers including telekinesis to affect change, and will eventually use this power to return the universe to its normal timeline. What spins out is an eerie, dark film dominated by a creepy fanged giant rabbit who guides the (possibly) delusionary Donny. This was the second big role for then then-21 year old Jake Gyllenhaal. He is in virtually every scene, and I think it may be his best role. He exhibits an astonishing ability to present insanity, evil, teen angst, and cluelessness, sometimes within the same scene. I do not really know of a teen portrayal with such virtuosic depth and variety. Kudos to director Kelly for recognizing Gyllenhaal’s youthful talent and pushing the performance to the edge. We are simultaneously drawn to him, concerned for him, and scared of him, as the rabbit compels him to burn down houses, flood the school, even kill another teen. The film escalates the horrible acts Donnie commits, and is finally resolved when he has the chance to reset the timeline and make everything right.
The film mostly avoids teen movie cliches, and the subsidiary teen characters (a girlfriend, and crude buddies who include a very young Seth Rogan) are there mostly to set Donny’s unique qualities into high relief. Perhaps the only plot misstep is a subplot involving one of those creepy 1990’s cultish self-help gurus (played by Patrick Swayze), done more memorably by Tom Cruise a couple years before in Magnolia (1999). Aside from this, Kelly maintains excellent forward momentum despite the cryptic plotting and alternate timeline games. It is puzzling to me that the career of writer/director Kelly never really took off in later years---this is a really creative movie, with a distinctive feel and look. Kelly’s failure to become Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Interstellar) perhaps points to how the initial tag of making a commercial bomb can stick with a director, despite Donny Darko’s later acclaim. I would love to see him get some studio support and resume his work.
Short Film Note:
I ran across an excellent short film (30 minutes) called Graffiti on the Kanopy channel (available free from many libraries). A wan young man (Oriol Pla) seems to be the only person left in a post-nuclear world, in which most areas are too radioactive to survive. He “meets” another survivor, a young woman his age, but only via the graffiti she leaves on his wall. She is sick and does not want him to see her in person. In 30 short minutes the film covers remarkable emotional ground, as he obsesses about her, pursues her, even gives up a chance of rescue for the chance to meet her. When a climactic rendezvous seems to come to nothing, the film is overwhelming in its despair and chilly pessimism. Yet---at the very end, he hears steps on a ladder, as someone ascends to meet him on the roof of the grim, Stalinist-appearing building. This is like the best short stories—compact, intense, and utterly focused on a single pervasive plot element. Check it out.
Donny Darko, a wildly innovative sci fi-teen-apocalypse film, had the bad luck in premiering a couple months after the September 11 2001 attack on the World Trade center. The film had the very unfortunate plot element of having an airplane engine drop into a suburban home as its key driver, and apparently that was just a bit close to home for the movie-going public. Plus, the film did not offer standard escapist fare that was to dominate Hollywood for the next year or so. It bombed at the box office, but has subsequently become a cult hit, with massive video sales in the following years, and websites devoted to explaining it. The film also pretty much launched Jake Gyllenhaal’s career.
The film is based on a (now) fairly familiar wormhole/time loop/alternate universe plot, well -trodden in the Star Trek series. Alternate timelines were also popular in other films of that era, with Memento (2000) exploring reverse amnesia and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) exploring memory erasure. This film explores this from a sci-fi perspective. At the beginning an airplane engine falls into the Darkos’ suburban home, but no plane ever crashes or is identified. This is the first sign of the alternate timeline that the film inhabits. It is clearly unstable, and filled with improbabilities which Donny must decipher while also dealing with his own mental illness. The film nicely clouds the border between delusions and alternate perceptions of reality, echoing some of Thomas Szasz’ skepticism about the reality of mental illness (The Myth of Mental Illness, 1961). Of course, this being science fiction, Donny is given unusual powers including telekinesis to affect change, and will eventually use this power to return the universe to its normal timeline. What spins out is an eerie, dark film dominated by a creepy fanged giant rabbit who guides the (possibly) delusionary Donny. This was the second big role for then then-21 year old Jake Gyllenhaal. He is in virtually every scene, and I think it may be his best role. He exhibits an astonishing ability to present insanity, evil, teen angst, and cluelessness, sometimes within the same scene. I do not really know of a teen portrayal with such virtuosic depth and variety. Kudos to director Kelly for recognizing Gyllenhaal’s youthful talent and pushing the performance to the edge. We are simultaneously drawn to him, concerned for him, and scared of him, as the rabbit compels him to burn down houses, flood the school, even kill another teen. The film escalates the horrible acts Donnie commits, and is finally resolved when he has the chance to reset the timeline and make everything right.
The film mostly avoids teen movie cliches, and the subsidiary teen characters (a girlfriend, and crude buddies who include a very young Seth Rogan) are there mostly to set Donny’s unique qualities into high relief. Perhaps the only plot misstep is a subplot involving one of those creepy 1990’s cultish self-help gurus (played by Patrick Swayze), done more memorably by Tom Cruise a couple years before in Magnolia (1999). Aside from this, Kelly maintains excellent forward momentum despite the cryptic plotting and alternate timeline games. It is puzzling to me that the career of writer/director Kelly never really took off in later years---this is a really creative movie, with a distinctive feel and look. Kelly’s failure to become Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Interstellar) perhaps points to how the initial tag of making a commercial bomb can stick with a director, despite Donny Darko’s later acclaim. I would love to see him get some studio support and resume his work.
Short Film Note:
I ran across an excellent short film (30 minutes) called Graffiti on the Kanopy channel (available free from many libraries). A wan young man (Oriol Pla) seems to be the only person left in a post-nuclear world, in which most areas are too radioactive to survive. He “meets” another survivor, a young woman his age, but only via the graffiti she leaves on his wall. She is sick and does not want him to see her in person. In 30 short minutes the film covers remarkable emotional ground, as he obsesses about her, pursues her, even gives up a chance of rescue for the chance to meet her. When a climactic rendezvous seems to come to nothing, the film is overwhelming in its despair and chilly pessimism. Yet---at the very end, he hears steps on a ladder, as someone ascends to meet him on the roof of the grim, Stalinist-appearing building. This is like the best short stories—compact, intense, and utterly focused on a single pervasive plot element. Check it out.
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