Harbour Highlights: Donnie Darko - 25th Anniversary
15 109 mins
15 109 mins
“Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit?"
“Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?"
Welcome to Harbour Highlights, a series of cult and classic favourites, all handpicked by the staff of Harbour Lights. For our bunny-themed Easter Sunday screening, Dominic takes us through a wormhole back to 2001’s Donnie Darko.
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal in his breakout role, Richard Kelly’s first of only three films centres on Donnie, a teenager in 1988 troubled by premonitions and images that suggest the world is about to end. Unsure of whether these are hallucinations or a dire warning, Donnie’s life begins to unravel as he acts upon on them, with everything from a budding relationship, a charismatic self-help guru, his youngest sister’s dance contest and a man in a rabbit costume all seemingly barrelling towards a cataclysmic reckoning.
Released in the wake of the September 11th attacks, Donnie Darko’s initial release was small but a following immediately began to form around it. By the time of its UK release the following year, it had already become a cemented cult classic. Mixing philosophical musings, scientific theorising, teen angst, comedy and an incredible 80s soundtrack, the film would go on to take in merchandising, a much-hyped (but ultimately inferior) director’s cut release and, oddest of all, a cover version of ‘Mad World’ created for the film that ended up as the Christmas number one for 2003. Twenty-five years after its initial release, the film remains a thrilling and unique cinematic experience.