Donnie Darko
2001, USA, 113 mins (director's cut: 134 mins)
sci-fi, teen, mystery
​
written and directed by Richard Kelly
cinematography by Steven Poster
editing by Sam Bauer & Eric Strand
music by Michael Andrews

SYNOPSIS (from imdb):
The film is set in 1988, just before the presidential election. After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, troubled teenager Donnie is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

CAST:
Donnie - Jake Gyllenhall
Eddie - Holmes Osborne
Elizabeth Darko - Maggie Gyllenhaal
Samantha Darko - Daveigh Chase
Rose Darko - Mary McDonnell
Karen Pomeroy - Drew Barrymore
Prof. Kenneth Monnitoff - Noah Wyle
Gretchen Ross - Jena Malone
Dr. Lilian Thurman - Katharine Ross
Jim Cunningham - Patrick Swayze


"Complex, inventive, gripping, strange, and in the end deeply moving, with more ideas in it than Hollywood has produced in the entire last decade."
film critic Anton Bitel
Donnie: Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit?
Frank: Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?
"28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, 12 seconds. That is when the world will end."
​- Frank
"I have this need to set my stories in a particular timeline. I need the time and date stamped on to my narrative, because I need to have context for my characters to exist in a very specific timeline, so that they’re responding to the state of the world in that particular moment."
director Richard Kelly

Historical context
The film is set in 1988, just before the US presidential election.
Eventual winner George HW Bush eventually defeated Michael Dukakis.

Socio-Political and technological context
The film played at the Sundance film festival in January 2001 but did not get a major theatrical release in the USA. It gained a cult following upon its US DVD release. It was released in the UK, Australia and other countries in 2002, with an Italian cinema release not until 2004. This makes it an early film to become a cult DVD release - DVD players first went on sale in 1997.
A longer director's cut - seen as inferior to the initial version - was released in 2004.

Further work by Richard Kelly

Further Viewing