Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko is a drama sci-fi thriller that was released on
the 25th of October 2002 in the United Kingdom. The director and
writer of the movie is Richard Kelly, a 38-year-old born in Virginia, United
States. Produced by Pandora Cinema and the budget was around $4,500,000, the
filming on set just in California in locations such as Santa Clarita and Loyola
High School, shot between the dates of 24 July 2000 - 30 August 2000, totalling
a short 28 days to film the 1 hour 53 minutes long movie. The box-office
returns by the 3rd of October 2004 were $727,883 (USA). It won 11
awards including Cinénygma’s Audience Award in 2002.
The target audience for the movie was clearly from the ages
of 16-24 year olds and furthermore marketed at those interested in sci-fi, however I do not believe that it was
all that effective as it was misleading to it’s correct target audience as it
was pushed more as a teen ‘slasher’ rather than this cult sci-fi movie. Donnie
Darko also suffered from a bad intake and opening week because not only did it
coincided with Halloween in 2001 but also because of how close it was to the
9/11 attacks, they even in production had to remove the ‘Arabic’ font they were
using as it appeared on the DVD.
A quote taken from ‘bobs the moo’ on IMDb as a user review:
“In the small American of Middlesex lives
Donnie, a disturbed teenager, in psychoanalysis and on a programme of
medication. One night a large figure in a rabbit suit (Frank) appears to Donnie
and takes him out of his home in order to tell him that in just over 28 days
the world will come to an end. While out Donnie house is struck by an aeroplane
engine that crushes his room and would have surely killed him. Donnie follows
Frank's instruction as they grow increasingly violent as he tries to prevent
the world ending and turn time back.
I, like many others,
came to this on the back of rave reviews but I knew that this film is a CULT
movie. That means that not everyone will get it or enjoy it. I fell within the
first category but not within the second. The plot is a strange mix of high
school movie cliché and a weird hallucination (?) that is Donnie's world. The
two sit well together and both work separately. The high school stuff finds
Donnie in a boat many of us have been in – that of a teenager disaffected and
misunderstood by everything around him. On top of this alienation Donnie must
cope with the darker world of Frank – a darkness that is brought out really
well and is genuinely creepy.
This side of the story
is the difficult bit. There are big question marks that surround what is
actually going on with Frank and, even after the film has finished it remains
unclear and you'll be left wondering `what the heck was that?' However it is a
fantastic ride and you'll be totally sucked into the world of Donnie. It's not
a classic film because of this – too dark for many and maybe too frustrating in
it's ambiguous nature for others, but it is one hell of a movie that'll amuse,
chill and entertain long after you finish it.
The direction is
faultless. Shadowy stairwells cast beautiful shadows and blue skies and picket
fences give way to dark visions and destruction. The use of music is also good
– 80's soundtracks may not be a fresh idea but here it is used sparingly and to
great effect. Some is over familiar but in fairness most is well known but
gains value from how it is used with the action onscreen.
Gyllenhaal is a great
lead and brings an immense depth to the film, his laid back approach mixed with
the dark haunted looks he can draw upon add to the feelings of both menace and
reality. The rest of the cast are all great and throw up a few faces I wasn't
expecting – including Mary McDonnell, Swayze, Barrymore and Noah Wyle from ER.
These aren't distracting and don't take away or add to the film's value simply
by their star power.
Overall this is well
worth a watch. You won't get it first time but you'll have fun thinking about
it and running over the meaning in your mind. I'm coming to grips with the
whole time travel thing but am still questioning my own answers. Please
remember than this is a cult movie that is wearing a multiplex outfit (just
like Frank). Many will find it confusing, challenging and just too plain weird
but most will enjoy it even if the meaning is confused and difficult.”
How does the location
and use of light and dark depict the emotional landscape of a character?
The scene begins with a tilting on a axis showing the name
of the cinema and what exactly they are going to see this gives a look into
what they are intending to watch and why exactly. Well, as it says on the
border “Halloween firghtmare double feature” this tells the audience that since
the previous scene there has been a time lapse however they are using a very
effective technique to show the audience that the change has occurred and
although it is subtlety added, it would be hard for the audience to miss
because of the close up camera angle.
As it tilts down we see Donnie (protagonist) and Gretchen
(female lead) walking toward the booth to purchase their tickets. In terms of
lighting the scene is effectively distributing the light to match what they
want the audience to turn their focus to, in this case although the audience
can still see part of the street, it is poorly lit and therefore the attention
of the viewer is turned toward the entrance of the cinema and Donnie purchasing
the tickets to “evil dead” film, nothing so far in terms of lighting has really
depicted the characters emotions.
Once in the cinema, the audience can see the isolation and
loneliness immediately, this is intensified by the lack of light; it is only
the protagonist and the female lead in the theatre. The lighting is great to
reflect Donnie’s emotions, they too are dark and deep, and he is almost in this
sense attempting to hide himself and his emotions within the darkness. As the
camera moves toward Donnie, the audience then is able to see Donnie’s
expressionless face whilst watching this horror movie, this could be inferred
that he is not scared and as the camera turns to face Donnie from side on, the
audience can see Donnie has no reaction to the sound effects being played in
the theatre of very intense drum beating, that is used as a thriller technique
to bring the audience with the high tempo of the movie, building suspense.
As the camera moves back toward Donnie’s profile view we see
that there is something disturbing him (effective use of close up) and the
audience begins to suspect someone else’s presence. As Donnie turns to look, he
begins smiling; an acapella/orchestral sound begins to introduce into the
scene. This could mean that the person that is about to be introduced to the
audience is of a high power and almost ‘god-like’. In terms of Frank, he holds
the power of knowing when the world is going to end, therefore he has a lot of
power and the choir music is aimed at him. The music is also chilling and often
used in Thriller (Conforms to traditions.)
As Frank (big bunny) is introduced, they have effectively
used a close up to show intimacy between the characters and also a terror
tactic for the audience. As Frank pivots his head around to Donnie, he says in
a quiet (almost whisper) voice: “Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit?”
to the audience this really enforces the view upon his irregularity as a being.
Between the little conversations shared at this point they have used a
shot-reverse-shot, maintaining the good angle of eye contact.
As Frank takes off his bunny head from the suit, the
audience gets a glimpse at him before the camera reverses back to Donnie, once
again, allowing the audience to first establish his emotions before viewing the
potentially disturbing character. Donnie says “what happened to your eye?” as
this is said, the audience is able to see Frank and his bleeding eye, this sort
of make up is often very subtle and little such as with Franks eye in this
scene, setting Thriller apart from it’s close relative genre: Horror.
Frank in his ‘bunny suit’ is a typical character often
expressed in films that fall within the genre ‘psychological’ movie. However
they don’t always have to be a character, they can also an object.
“I want you to watch the movie screen, there’s something I
want to show you” thereby Frank is leading Donnie to do as he insists and
therefore the camera too switches you to a view from the seats looking up at
the cinema screen, this puts the audience in Donnie position and allows them to
feel how he does, connecting the audience effectively with the character.
As the camera switches back to Donnie, we see he begins to
raise his head in interest and astonishment, at which point the camera switches
to Frank to hear him say “have you ever seen a portal?” the audience then can
see the cinema display being distorted at the centre and begin growing.
