Donnie Darko (DVD)

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---

The movie gets funnier, weirder, sadder, and more tantalizing as it goes along; but it is not without its oddities as it proceeds, as well. Director Kelly opts for some peculiar filmmaking techniques throughout the story, sometimes at the expense of keeping his viewers' concentration on the subject at hand. For instance, he films Donnie getting off a school bus with his camera tilted sideways; later he speeds up his photography or gives us more curious camera angles. I suppose it's meant to demonstrate visually how distorted Donnie's world is, but I merely found it distracting. In addition, all of the schoolroom scenes ring false, but since it's primarily a sardonic fantasy, I won't object. Likewise, the amount of drugs, alcohol, sex, and profanity among these teens seems excessive, but, again, I guess some exaggeration is necessary to make a point about the empty lives these kids see around them. Michael Andrews' soundtrack music is sometimes so loud and overpowering that the dialogue is hard to decipher, and for that there is little excuse.

By and large, there's probably too much going on in the film for its own good, but if you can sort through the inessentials, there are some good pickings to be found.

Video:
The aspect ratio of this anamorphic widescreen production measures approximately 2.35:1. The image quality, however, is not always letter perfect, whether intentional or not. Sometimes Fox's usual crystalline clarity is in evidence, sometimes the picture is soft, vague, and almost blurred. Since I could find no plausible explanation for why the director would want purposely to do this (it isn't necessarily one of his cinematic devices), I can only assume it was carelessness on somebody's part, an element of the original print, or introduced in the digital transfer. In any case, it's not severe and should not hinder anyone's enjoyment of the film. I also noticed a small degree of natural film grain throughout the movie and the occasional instantaneous fleck here and there.

Audio:
In compensation, the Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is excellent, particularly for the all-enveloping quality of its musical track, which, as I've said, can sometimes be too much of a good thing when it begins to obscure what characters on screen are saying. In any case, the sound generally aids the eerie mood of the story line.

Extras:
There are a few good special features on the disc that might make it more appealing to prospective buyers on the fringes of making a final decision. These extras include, to begin, two audio commentaries, one with writer/director Richard Kelly and star Jake Gyllenhaal and a second with various members of the cast and crew. Then, there are twenty deleted or expanded scenes with optional director commentary; extensive cast and crew information; several "Cunning Visions" infomercials; "The Philosophy of Time Travel" book; a "Mad World" music video performed by Gary Jules; a gallery of production stills and concept art; a Web site gallery; a promo for the soundtrack album; twenty-eight scene selections; a widescreen trailer; and five TV spots. English and French are the spoken languages offered, English and Spanish the subtitle options.

Parting Thoughts:
"Destruction is a form of creation," Donnie says in English class one day, responding to a question his teacher (Drew Barrymore) asks about a short story. His sentiment pretty much sums up the nature of the picture; the themes are mainly ones of tearing down and building up. In the end, the sentiment gets a bit more sappy than I would have liked, but the film is well intentioned. "Donnie Darko" is rated R exclusively for its use of profanity; otherwise, it's largely non-offensive.

---

Connect to Facebook/Twitter, recommend via email and much more.

---