Donnie Darko - Section 3 G321

Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is a drama sci-fi thriller that was released on the 25^th 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 3^rd 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.