Donnie Darko (2002)

One of the surprise hits of last year, coming out of nowhere with a bizarre name that could be horribly misinterpreted. But word of mouth and an intriguing poster campaign meant that people started going and it came out a critically acclaimed study of dysfunctional American youth.
The plot is fairly straightforward to start with and incredibly complicated by the end. Donnie Darko, a disturbed high school student with a criminal history, starts seeing visions of a giant rabbit called Frank. Frank tells him that the world is going to end in 28 days � the day before Halloween. Interspersed with shots of Donnie talking to his psychiatrist, Donnie�s world starts to unravel as things become slowly more apocalyptic and he finds himself doing things he takes no responsibility for � like flooding the school. Jake Gyllenhaal is convincing in the difficult lead role and the supporting cast are strong, with notable performances from Patrick Swayze as a charismatic life coach and Drew Barrymore as an unorthodox English teacher. The ending WILL leave you confused but the DVD extras help explain things a little more. Definitely one to watch DVD extras: Absolutely loads, including 2 Commentaries, 20 extra scenes, the text of �Philosophy of Time travel�, artwork gallery, trailers and tv spots

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