Donnie Darko

Donnie Darko is an amazing, strange and profound movie. The main character is a troubled teenager who spends his days railing against the idiocy of the world around him, periodically seeing visions of a large, demonic rabbit who commands him to commit acts of vandalism and gives him cryptic messages - the first of which being that the world will end in 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds. Is Donnie going insane, or is the rabbit an emissary from the future? This is multilayered and complex movie, dealing with themes as diverse as science, religion, morality, death, and the painful confusion of adolescence. I was blown away by this movie and will be buying a copy so I can watch it several more times. Very few movies resonate with me to that extent - the short list includes American Beauty, The Last Wave, and Waking Life. Two little synchronicities pleased me while I was watching the movie - the first was that Donnie Darko has the same Escher painting on his bedroom wall that I used in my November 6 blog entry "I spy with my centaur eye" (and the quote I posted there is quite appropriate for this movie). Secondly, the climactic scene of the movie takes place on October 2nd, which is my birthday. That one gave me shivers, actually, considering what was happening at that point and the added bonus that the song playing during that scene said "happy birthday" several times. The script is brilliant, the sound track is perfect and enhances the movie - particularly a great cover of Tears for Fear's song "Mad World."

And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles its a very very
Mad world

I had been in a mild slough of despond that day, but seeing this movie and the great conversation I had with my friend about it afterward totally turned my mood around. We stayed up very late talking and I was exhausted at work the next day, but it was totally worth it.